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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A lender has filed a foreclosure action against the Mesa del Sol development corporation, claiming it has defaulted on a $25 million loan secured by land at the 12,900-acre master-planned community south of the Sunport.

Wilmington, Del.-based PNC Bank is seeking a court-ordered auction to sell about 2,804 acres of land slated for residential development in order to recoup its losses. The lawsuit was filed in Bernalillo County District Court by Albuquerque lawyer John P. Burton.

The loan default stems from a dispute between the two main partners in Mesa del Sol LLC, Cleveland, Ohio-based Forest City Enterprises and Richardson, Texas-based Covington Group, said Mesa del Sol spokeswoman Joanie Griffin.

“This process does not signify any lack of viability of the project or financial solvency of Forest City,” she said.

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PNC’s foreclosure action does not affect any of the developed land at Mesa del Sol, including the active residential subdivision where homes are currently being built. There are about 30 lots left on the current 213-home buildout, Griffin said.

“Once this (foreclosure) process is completed, it is expected that the ownership dispute will be resolved,” she said, noting that it’s unlikely an ownership change will alter the direction of Mesa del Sol’s development.

“The master plan dictates what can be built and where and is connected to the land, not the ownership,” she said.

A real estate giant with $8.8 billion in assets, Forest City is committed to the Mesa del Sol project, Griffin said, although she would not comment on speculation that the loan default was a strategic move on Forest City’s part. The possibility exists that Forest City could buy the 2,804 acres at the court-ordered auction.

The original $25 million mortgage loan made in April 2008 by National City Bank, which later merged into Wilmington, Del.-based PNC Bank. The loan’s original maturity or due date was in April 2011. The maturity date was extended four times, most recently to January 2015.

Forest City is listed in court documents as a guarantor of the loan, but is not named as a defendant in the foreclosure suit.

After several missed monthly mortgage payments, PNC sent default notices to both Mesa del Sol and Forest City Enterprises in March of this year. The foreclosure suit lists the outstanding loan balance at about $17.4 million.

Two years ago, an announcement was made that a new ownership group would be formed at Mesa del Sol. The new group would include Covington, while Forest City would gradually transfer its stake in Mesa del Sol to the new group.

That deal fell through.

Forest City and Covington were the original partners in Mesa del Sol, where more than 1 million square feet of commercial space was built in 2006-11. Mesa del Sol LLC has the rights to develop 9,000 of the total 12,900 acres on a timeline that stretches out decades.