Florida apartment developer ZOM puts its management arm in bankruptcy, and a sister company is lined up to bid first

The bankrupt arm and the sister company

ZOM Living, a Central Florida apartment developer owned mostly by a Dutch family, put its management arm into bankruptcy on Oct. 30. The sister company that owns all of ZOM's buildings is not in the case, ZOM says. That company is lending the cash for the case. It is also first in line to bid for what the bankrupt arm owns.

Why it matters: The bankrupt arm lists about $541 million in debts to unsecured creditors, led by a judgment won by Gray Development Group of Phoenix. Gray says the lender sits on both sides of the case and the plan leaves those creditors nothing. The two ZOM companies jointly guarantee five projects, one in Miami, and the filing puts the bankrupt arm in default on those guaranties.

What is for sale is not buildings. It is ZOM's staff, brand names, insurance, office gear, furniture, development stakes and legal claims, Gray's court filing says, quoting ZOM.

What filed, and what did not

ZOM Holding Inc., ZOM Associates and ZH Development I filed Chapter 11 petitions on Oct. 30 in the federal bankruptcy court in Orlando, the court's docket shows. Judge Grace E. Robson has the case, and the court approved running the three together the same day. The Real Deal reported the filings on Nov. 3.

ZOM Holding Inc. does not own any of ZOM Living's apartment properties, The Real Deal reported. "ZOM Holding LP is the entity that owns all of the ZOM companies' real estate," ZOM said in a statement to The Real Deal. That company is not seeking bankruptcy and continues to operate as usual, ZOM said.

The debtors' filed address is in Winter Springs, in Seminole County. FLOR Holding USA owns all of ZOM Holding Inc., according to Bondoro, a bankruptcy data service, and FLOR's lawyers appeared in the case.

The Arizona judgment

In 2019 Gray Development invited ZOM into a joint venture to build its first five Arizona apartment projects, part of a planned 13-project pipeline, Bisnow reported. The two signed a confidentiality and non-circumvention agreement, under which Gray says it shared its own plans and data. A year later ZOM's affiliate ended the purchase agreement, and the site owners filed for bankruptcy. Another ZOM affiliate then bought four properties out of that bankruptcy for $82 million, in 2020, according to ZOM's filing as The Real Deal reported it.

Gray sued in 2022. After a 12-day trial, a jury found on Oct. 3, 2025, that ZOM broke its contract and its duty of good faith and fair dealing, Gibson Dunn, Gray's trial firm, said. The jury awarded $296,448,624 on each claim, the full amount Gray sought.

A Maricopa County court entered the judgment on May 12, 2026. ZOM's declaration puts it at $308.6 million plus 8.25% interest, The Real Deal and Bondoro report. Gray puts it at about $323 million. ZOM did not agree to pay it: a court entered it after the verdict, and ZOM is appealing.

The sister company's loan and bid

The sister company, ZOM Holding LP, would lend up to $10.3 million, the loan papers show. That includes an initial $5.0 million, up to $1.5 million more for professional fees, and $3.8 million rolled in from a secured note dated Feb. 4, 2026. The loan bears interest at a market benchmark rate plus 2.5 points, paid in more debt each quarter. It lets the lender bid up to the full amount it is owed instead of cash.

Gray's objection counts about $6.5 million of new borrowing, about $1.5 million of it up front. The rest of the facility is the rolled-in old debt.

The lender is also the proposed stalking-horse bidder, the first bid that sets a floor, in a 12-week sale of substantially all the debtors' assets, The Real Deal and Bondoro report. The purchase agreement was still being finalized when the case was filed. A third party may still win with a higher or better bid.

ZOM's chief restructuring officer, Neil Luria, says his team contacted ten possible lenders and none offered better terms. The two companies share "certain, but not all, equity owners" and "do not share a common parent," the loan motion says. The debtors picked the loan for its terms, "not because of the DIP Lender's affiliation," Luria's declaration says. Independent directors approved it.

At a first hearing on Nov. 3, the court approved the loan on an interim basis until Dec. 4, the hearing memo shows. Gray filed its preliminary objection the same day, and its lawyers appeared.

What Gray says

Gray says ZOM Holding LP "is an insider of the Debtor" that "stands on both sides of the case as lender, putative defendant and anticipated purchaser." It says the sale "appears designed to culminate in its acquisition of the Debtors' assets free and clear," "leaving nothing for unsecured creditors."

Gray also says the sister company began lending on Feb. 4, about four months after the verdict. It did not file the public notice that secures its claim on the debtors' assets until June 26, after the judgment, Gray says. Gray may ask the court to dismiss the cases as filed in bad faith, or to treat the debtors and the lender as one.

Gray alleges, on information and belief, that two brothers of the van Veggel family control the debtors and the lender through layers of companies. It alleges they share top executives, including chief executive Greg West, and that money moved among the companies and the family in 2025. These are allegations; no court has found them.

Who owns ZOM

Founder Joost Zyderveld turned to real estate and moved to Central Florida in 1977, ZOM's website says. He sold the company in 1997 to Hans van Veggel, and the van Veggel family majority owns it today through Timeless Investments, its family office in Amsterdam. Gray's May release says the same.

Greg West is ZOM Living's chief executive. He joined in 1997 and sits on the board of the National Multifamily Housing Council, the company's site says.

ZOM, with partners, finished the first phase of MiLine Miami, 338 apartments on the Ludlam Trail, ConnectCRE reported in 2022. The full $400 million project on 11.4 acres would hold 975. ZOM's site also lists Maizon Brickell, Azola South Tampa and Bel Air at Doral, a 249-unit complex next to the Trump National golf resort.

Bruce Gray, an architect, founded Gray Development Group in Phoenix in 1991. His firm has designed or built more than 15,000 apartment and condo units in the Phoenix area.

Their side

ZOM argues on appeal that Gray failed to prove damages and won profits from properties it never owned, The Real Deal reported. ZOM has also stressed that the affiliate that signed the Gray agreement is not the one that bought the sites. Its declaration calls the filings "the debtors' last attempt to save their business and employees' jobs." ZOM's bankruptcy lawyers did not immediately respond to The Real Deal.

"Bruce Gray put everything into his companies," said Collin Cox, Gray's trial lawyer at Gibson Dunn.

What's next

What's next: Under the loan terms, the debtors must file their sale and bidding motion within seven days of Oct. 30. The final hearing on the loan, and a first hearing on ZOM's request to keep its Arizona appeal going, are set for 10 a.m. Friday, Dec. 4, in Orlando.

Sources we read

U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Middle District of Florida, docket for ZOM Holding Inc. (via CourtListener), including the debtors' loan motion and declarations (Oct. 30), Gray's preliminary objection (Nov. 3) and the Nov. 3 hearing memo. The Real Deal (Lidia Dinkova), Nov. 3, and Feb. 2. Bondoro case summary. Law360 (Hilary Russ), Nov. 2, opening text. Gray Development Group release, May 19, via Construction Defect Journal. Gibson Dunn, Oct. 7, 2025. Bisnow, May 19. ZOM Living's website. ConnectCRE, Sept. 6, 2022.