The owner of Uptown Tower has filed a motion to sell the disputed property at 4144 North Central Expressway in Dallas.
Whitestone Uptown Tower LLC, the Houston-based investor that owns the office building, was filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Dec. 1 as it was in the foreclosure process. Lenders targeted December for foreclosure on the building after the owner defaulted on mortgage payments.
The ownership motion follows a motion by creditor RSS MSBAM2013-C13-TX WUT, LLC to compel Whitestone Uptown Tower to file a motion to sell and amend its plans.
Whitestone Uptown Tower is moving 253,561 square feet of property for 363 sales. This is a process under U.S. bankruptcy law that allows a potential buyer to take over assets free of liens and other claims.
The owners are seeking approval for the proposed bidding process, with first bids due by 5pm on May 17th. Qualified bids will be decided on May 22nd. If necessary, the auction will be held on June 4th. The deadline is July 31st. is proposed.
The lender indicated it would consider a $26 million trailing bid for the process. This amount is also used as the minimum bid in the owner's proposed bidding process, and the owners said this amount indicates that the property has at least $8 million in equity.
Dallas County puts the market value of Uptown Tower, built in 1982, at more than $27.6 million. The owner's sale motion states that the primary lender has submitted a proof of claim with a loan obligation of approximately $18.8 million, excluding escrow and interim funds credits.
An emergency motion filed by the owners on March 14 to use secured cash to maintain the tower's normal operations said the building's occupancy rate was good at about 80% and “starting to recover.” According to the emergency motion, filing for Chapter 11 will allow Whitestone to restructure its debt in line with its expected cash flows.
