DeSoto Square foreclosure sales date reset for Sept. 23. It will be conducted online
The on-again, off-again foreclosure proceedings against the owners of the DeSoto Square mall, 303 301 Blvd. W., took another turn this week with the notice of foreclosure sale being filed for 11 a.m. Sept. 23.
The order, filed with the Manatee County Clerk of Circuit Court on Thursday, states that the property will be sold to the highest bidder for cash at www.manatee.realforeclose.com.
The order was filed on behalf of lender Romspen US Master Mortagage LP, based in the Cayman Islands.
Circuit Court Judge Charles Sniffen had originally set Aug. 26 as the sales date, during a dial-in telephone hearing with Murray Silverstein, attorney for lender Romspen, and Ron Gache, the attorney representing the shopping mall’s owners.
But that date was canceled by the clerk of court due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The foreclosure sale order filed Thursday states that the governor’s moratorium on foreclosures no longer applies to commercial foreclosures.
In January, the mall’s owners and the lender reached a settlement that placed a hold on a foreclosure trial. Under the January settlement, the mall owners agreed to pay $4.5 million no later than June 1. If the $4.5 million was not paid as agreed, the foreclosure sale would have been set for Sept. 30.
The COVID-19 pandemic and executive orders by DeSantis intervened, delaying foreclosure proceedings.
The last time that the lender received any payment from the mall’s owners was in April 2018, with about $30 million still owed on the property, including principal and interest.
At the July hearing, Romspen attorney Murray Silverstein said the lender had to pay $300,000 on a liability insurance premium for the building, a payment that mall owners should have made.
“The mere passage of time has allowed the DeSoto Square defendants to get what they wanted without paying anything,” Silverstein said in July. “We are asking for a sales date any time after Aug. 1.”
Ron Gache, attorney for the mall’s owners, said his clients attempted to secure financing and sell off a portion of the property after the January settlement had been reached, but that the pandemic interfered with those efforts.
The owners of the mall purchased the property in April 2017 for $22,850,000 and announced a series of planned improvements that never materialized. The mall’s owners still owe $21,789,102, according to the foreclosure suit filed by Rompsen in 2018. That amount has grown because of interest on the unpaid balance.
In the interim, it has been revealed that mall owners have submitted plans to Manatee County government to demolish most of the mall property and redevelop it.
The redevelopment plans would take place over a 10-year period. In the place of demolished buildings would be 128,514 square-feet of retail-lifestyle space, a 40,000 square-foot grocery, 90,000-square-feet of office space and three retail out parcels totaling 16,250-square feet. Also planned are about 900 residences.
