Devtov Group Owes Navja Corp $1.8M in Pinecrest Spec Home Fight

An arbitrator has ruled that Devtov Group, the Doral-based luxury home builder led by Juan Carlos Tovar, owes its investment partner Navja Corp about $1.8 million plus damages over a Pinecrest spec home the pair’s joint venture has left an unfinished shell since 2022, according to The Real Deal South Florida. Navja, led by Mexican investor Enrique Navarro, and Devtov formed a 50-50 venture called Mansions 8800 that bought a roughly one-acre lot at 8800 SW 64th Court, across from Gulliver Preparatory School, for $1.55 million in May 2021.

Why it matters

Partner and preferred-equity disputes on spec product are the leading edge of the South Florida luxury single-family slowdown, even as prices for finished trophy homes keep climbing nearby. Devtov sued Navja first, seeking to expel it as a controlling JV member and arguing the venture owed Devtov Group, as general contractor, more than $1 million in invoices for taxes, city fines and upkeep on the empty lot. The arbitrator, attorney Oliver Langstadt, rejected that framing. He found Professional Bank had approved Tovar’s guaranty on a construction loan but rejected Navarro’s over insufficient assets, that Tovar refused to guarantee the full loan alone, and that Tovar also turned down a hard-money loan Navarro sourced. “Tovar and Devtov GP, LLC did not act with any good faith diligence to try to resolve the problem of financing and a buyout,” Langstadt wrote. For a builder capitalizing spec product on a JV structure, the case shows how quickly a partner dispute over financing, not the market, can stall a shovel-ready site for years.

The numbers

The Mansions 8800 Pinecrest LLC joint venture was formed March 31, 2021, per Sunbiz filings, with Tovar as registered agent and Devtov GP LLC as manager. Miami-Dade’s parcel database still lists the LLC as owner of the 0.985-acre, 42,906-square-foot lot, coded vacant residential. The site last traded for $1.55 million; the county’s 2025 assessment put its value near $2.66 million. Devtov claimed more than $1 million in carrying costs; the arbitrator’s award to Navja runs roughly $1.8 million plus additional damages.

What’s next

Devtov can still ask a court to vacate the award, and the firm said in a statement it “respectfully” disagrees with parts of the ruling and remains committed to finishing its projects. Navja’s attorney, Josh Rubens of Kluger Kaplan, said his client is “very pleased” with the outcome. Devtov is separately suing the developer behind Fisher Island’s Mansions project over trademark rights to “The Mansions” name, leaving the Miami builder fighting two fronts while the Pinecrest lot sits idle.