Six years after opening the Royal Palm, developer R. Donahue Peebles has put the entity that owns the South Beach hotel into bankruptcy protection amid a dispute with a lender trying to foreclose on the property.

The bankruptcy filing of Royal Palm Senior Investors marks the latest twist in a complicated legal battle over the 417-room hotel that Peebles built with city subsidies at the start of the decade.

Lenders claim the primary owner, Coral Gables real estate investor Guy Mitchell, defaulted on loans that he and his partners secured when they paid $124 million in 2005 for 88 percent of the hotel. Peebles maintained a 12 percent stake and has been feuding with Mitchell almost from the start.

The latest fight involves Carbon Capital, a division of the Blackrock investment giant, which made a loan to Royal Palm Senior Investors for a condo-hotel conversion that ultimately fizzled. The bankruptcy filing lists a $30 million debt to Carbon, the only liability mentioned for the holding company.

Carbon tried to take over Royal Palm Senior Investors this week by putting the holding company up for auction for $24 million. Through a complex web of holding companies, Royal Palm Senior Investors ultimately owns the hotel.

Two people who have talked to executives involved in the transaction said Carbon did not anticipate any bidders, given the $180 million debt on the hotel. Instead, Carbon expected to end the day owning Royal Palm Senior Investors outright, effectively replacing Mitchell and Peebles as the hotel’s owners.

But on Tuesday, a Peebles company that owns an interest in the Senior Investors entity filed papers to put it into Chapter 11 bankruptcy — a move that forced Carbon to abort plans for the auction.

”All Mr. Peebles is trying to do is remain involved and protect the value of this asset,” said Paul Orshan, a Coral Gables bankruptcy lawyer representing Peebles. Orshan said Carbon claims Mitchell turned over his interest in the Senior Investors holding company to Carbon this week.

Carbon’s lawyer, Detra Shaw-Wilder, declined to comment. Orshan said he expects Carbon to contest the bankruptcy filing, arguing Peebles does not have the authority to put the company into Chapter 11.

Miami Beach offered the oceanfront site and a $10 million loan to black developers in the 1990s to both end a tourism boycott by civil rights groups and create a smaller convention headquarters hotel next to the Loews Miami Beach, which the city also subsidized.

But management woes hit the Royal Palm as Mitchell and partner Robert Falor’s planned condo-hotel conversion fell apart. Crowne Plaza, the original operator, left the hotel after the Peebles sale and the hotel struggled to find a national chain to operate it.

Financial reports Carbon briefly posted on the Internet showed the Royal Palm lost $2 million January to November.