Tempe Condo Towers: $135 Million Mortgage - Failed Auction for $8 Million

04-12-2010 • HousingDoom.com

Mortgage Ltd., is also infamous for the problems with it's backer, Radical Bunny. Last week the project was offered at a foreclosure auction for $8 million and not surprisingly, there were no takers. The Centerpoint condominium towers in downtown Tempe failed to sell at a foreclosure auction Tuesday, forcing the lender, ML Manager LLC, to take over the property. Peoria-based ML Manager, the successor to real-estate lender Mortgages Ltd., asked a minimum bid of $8 million to sell the property at the foreclosure auction. Because there were no bidders, ML Manager now owns the property. "Our plan is to market the towers to a buyer who will finish them," said Mark Winkleman, chief operating officer for ML Manager. He said proceeds from the sale of the project will go toward paying back investors. Mortgages Ltd.'s loan to Tempe Land Co. LLC, the former developer of Centerpoint, was for approximately $135 million. Tempe Land is a subsidiary of Tempe-based Avenue Communities LLC. Winkleman said several people attended the foreclosure auction, but no one made a bid. "There have been reports of problems with the towers and that they need more work than they actually do," he said. "The 22-story tower is 90 percent done." The 30-story tower next to it does need more work and money to be completed. When Tempe Land converted its bankruptcy motion from Chapter 11 reorganization to Chapter 7 liquidation in September, ML Manager was allowed to file to foreclose on the condo towers.