Former bank holding company AmFin Financial Corp. has sold a Cleveland parking garage to Harbor Group International LLC for $8.15 million.

Judge Pat E. Morgenstern-Clarren of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Ohio in Cleveland approved the sale on Thursday, June 23, according to debtor counsel G. Christopher Meyer of Squire, Sanders & Dempsey LLP.

Stalking-horse bidder Harbor originally offered $7.5 million for the parking garage, but an auction was held Wednesday, Meyer said, because of a competing bidder he declined to identify.

Competing bids had to start at $7.75 million, according to court documents.

The parking garage at 515 Euclid Ave. contains 525 parking spaces and 8,242 square feet of retail space on the ground floor, according to the real estate purchase agreement, filed March 29.

Morgenstern-Clarren approved bidding procedures for the sale on April 26, court filings show.

Commercial real estate investor Harbor Group already owns the nearby 200 Public Square in Cleveland, giving the company a substantial interest in area parking.

AmFin will return to court for a disclosure statement hearing, initially set for June 10. The Cleveland debtor, however, asked the court to cancel the hearing so it could negotiate with its noteholders, according to court documents. No new date has been set.

AmFin, formerly known as AmTrust Financial Corp., submitted a reorganization plan and disclosure statement on May 20, court filings show.

AmTrust Financial filed for Chapter 11 protection on Nov. 30, 2009, with affiliates AmTrust Real Estate Investments Inc., AmTrust Insurance Agency Inc., AmTrust Investments Inc., AmTrust Properties Inc. and AmTrust Management Inc. because of poorly performing investments in residential mortgages and construction loans for land development. Judge Howard M. Metzenbaum of the Cleveland court approved joint administration of the cases on Dec. 3, 2009.

AmTrust Financial, formerly known as Ohio Savings Financial Corp., owned AmTrust Bank, a financial institution insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and monitored by the Office of Thrift Supervision.

On Dec. 4, 2009, however, the OTS closed AmTrust Bank, and the FDIC was named receiver. New York Community Bancorp Inc. assumed AmTrust Bank's $8 billion in deposits and purchased $9 billion of its $12 billion in assets.

As of Oct. 31, 2009, the combined banking group had $11.7 billion in assets and $11.45 billion in liabilities, court filings show.

AmTrust Financial listed $128.46 million in assets and $261.4 million in liabilities in court papers.

Meyer, Christine Pierpont, Sherri Dahl, Stephen Lerner and Richard Gurbst from Squire, Sanders & Dempsey are debtor counsel. Thomas Coffey, Scott Kelly, Peter Morrison and Glenn Morrical from Tucker Ellis & West LLP are special counsel to AmFin.

Ronald Glass of GlassRatner Advisory & Capital Group LLC is chief restructuring officer.

Lawrence Bryant of Williams Mullen represents Harbor Group.

Daniel DeMarco of Hahn Loeser & Parks LLP represents AmFin's official committee of unsecured creditors. J.H. Cohn LLP is financial adviser to the committee.