Article published November 20, 2009
Investment firm buys B.G. mall's $8.9M loan
Property in process of being repossessed
By GARY T. PAKULSKI
BLADE BUSINESS WRITER
An $8.9 million loan taken out in 2007 by investors to buy troubled Woodland Mall in Bowling Green is now in the hands of an investment firm that acquires toxic mortgage assets.
Utah-based SilverLeaf Financial says it has acquired the mortgage note on the 270,000-square-foot shopping center that includes Elder-Beerman, Sears, Dunham's Sports, and Famous Footwear.
SilverLeaf didn't identify the seller.
But U.S. Bank in July began court proceedings to repossess the property from owner Woodland Mall Holdings LLC, claiming it was owed $11 million on the mall's note.
The bank, in the foreclosure lawsuit filed in Wood County Common Pleas Court, claimed that the mortgage hasn't been paid since February.
It is unclear what impact, if any, the sale of the loan will have on the foreclosure case.Mike Guggenheim, a commercial real estate executive in Beachwood, Ohio, has run the mall as court-appointed receiver since August.
A spokesman for SilverLeaf Financial, of Salt Lake City, couldn't be reached for comment.
SilverLeaf raises funding from wealthy individuals and from other private investors, and then uses it to buy pools of delinquent loans and other assets that banks and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. are eager to get off of their books - often for cents on the dollar.
The firm said it acquired the Woodland Mall note along with one on a 20,000-square-foot office complex in Shaker Heights, Ohio.
It is unclear how SilverLeaf will profit from the Woodland Mall deal.
However, mortgage-holders often end up with ownership of foreclosed properties, especially in cases in which the property is worth less than the amount owed.
The notes were the 38th and 39th to be acquired by SilverLeaf during 2009.
"SilverLeaf is very excited about their purchase in Bowling Green, which has a college student population of over 20,000," company officials said in a written statement.
A Cincinnati lawyer who represents owner Woodland Mall Holdings couldn't be reached for comment. Artek Realty, of New York City, and Kotel Management, of Wood Ridge, N.J., bought the mall in November, 2005, for an undisclosed amount from investors Ramy Eidi, Chuck Sallah, and Jim Sallah.
Contact Gary Pakulski at:
gpakulski@theblade.com
or 419-724-6082.
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