Deutsche Bank Trust Co. Americas has gained control of the Park Plaza mall property in Little Rock after an auction Thursday at the Pulaski County Courthouse.
Deutsche Bank, acting as trustee for Registered Holders of Wells Fargo Commercial Mortgage Securities, filed the foreclosure suit against the mall's owners in March. The bank was the only bidder at Thursday's three-minute auction, offering the $100,000 minimum bid through another entity called RSS WFRBS2011-C3-AR PPM LLC.
County officials held an auction of the 404,617-SF mall at 6000 W. Markham St. and a vacant parking lot to satisfy an $86.2 million judgment awarded to Deutsche Bank against Park Plaza Mall CMBS LLC of Chattanooga, Tennessee. The bank said the mall defaulted on a loan after missing a payment last year.
The bank assigned its judgment to the LLC. It's not unusual in a foreclosure for the judgment to be assigned to an entity and for that entity to then bid for the property at the foreclosure sale.
The lawsuit is tied to a loan of $99.4 million originally made to Park Plaza's owner, CBL Properties of Chattanooga, Tennessee, by Wells Fargo in 2011. The loan is secured by the mall and its 240,843-SF parking deck.
In court papers, the bank said that as of July 1 it is owed $86.2 million plus court costs and attorneys’ fees. The order for the foreclosure was entered on Sept. 13 and Park Plaza had 10 days to pay the judgment, which it did not do.
Park Plaza was built as a two-level, open-air shopping center in 1960. In 1988, it underwent a $48 million makeover that transformed it into an enclosed, three-level property. It’s anchored by two Dillard’s department stores that take up about 198,000 SF and 86,300 SF, respectively.
Dillard's owns its stores; its property is not part of the foreclosure.
