A nearly $1 billion luxury development in South Florida has turned into a legal and financial nightmare — leaving wealthy homebuyers waiting years for unfinished condos and fighting to recover pricey seven-figure deposits.
The Mandarin Oriental Residences in Boca Raton, part of the sprawling Via Mizner development, was supposed to bring five-star hotel living, lavish amenities and multimillion-dollar homes to the upscale coastal city.
Instead, nearly a decade after the project was originally expected to be completed, construction has ground to a halt, the hotel portion is in bankruptcy and the condo building faces a $418 million foreclosure lawsuit, according to the New York Times…