Suspended Miami commissioner loses family home to foreclosure sale days before election

Suspended Miami Commissioner Alex Díaz de la Portilla lost his childhood home in a foreclosure sale Wednesday, one week before voters decide if they’ll give the embattled politician another term at City Hall.

The sale comes as Díaz de la Portilla faces criminal charges that he sold his City Commission vote in exchange for $245,000 in campaign contributions and gifts, which prompted Gov. Ron DeSantis to suspend Díaz de la Portilla the day after he was arrested in September. As he seeks reelection to the commission’s District 1 seat, legal issues have mounted for the longtime politician, who denies wrongdoing and has pleaded not guilty to charges that include bribery and official misconduct.

The home, where Díaz de la Portilla said his parents live, is on the 1500 block of Southwest 19th Street in Little Havana, jointly owned by Díaz de la Portilla and his ex-wife, Tallahassee lobbyist Claudia Davant. Since 2012, no mortgage payments have been made on the 2005 loan, according to court documents filed by Wells Fargo bank. Díaz de la Portilla would have had to have paid more than $600,000 to prevent the sale.

Minutes after the 9 a.m. auction began, Wells Fargo won with a bid of $300,100. The bank can seek a separate judgment to compel Díaz de la Portilla and Davant to pay the difference.

On Tuesday, Díaz de la Portilla’s attorney asked a Miami-Dade County Circuit judge to delay the sale by at least 30 days because Díaz de la Portilla needed more time to pay off the debt because the suspended commissioner believes he had enough equity in the home to cover what was owed. The sale had previously been delayed four times. The judged denied the request.

After Wednesday’s sale was finished, Díaz de la Portilla told the Miami Herald his attorneys were negotiating so he could buy back the home. Asked how he would buy it back, he responded via text message: “With money.”

“A typical real estate transaction like any other,” he said.

Díaz de la Portilla lives in a rental apartment in Allapattah.

In a statement, Davant said she has had nothing to do with the property since the divorce more than a decade ago.

“In the divorce proceedings, his parents’ home was his responsibility,” Davant said. “I have no connection to this property or this development.”

After receiving the most votes among five candidates in the Nov. 7 general election, Díaz de la Portilla now faces auto parts salesman Miguel Gabela in a the runoff on Tuesday. Early voting begins Friday.