U.S. Bank N.A. started foreclosure proceedings Friday against Shepherd Mall Office Complex, which has been troubled on and off again for a generation.
Property manager Ed Duclos said he did not know about the action against owner VTA Oklahoma City LLC in Oklahoma County District Court.
The 709,000-square-foot former retail mall — converted to office use in the mid-1990s — was 21 percent vacant at the end of 2012, with 152,220 square feet of space available for $14.50 per square foot per year, according to Price Edwards & Co.
Shepherd Mall came out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November 2009, just more than a year after it filed, citing the end of an 80,000-square-foot lease with AOL and the credit freeze that followed the housing bust and 2008 stock market crash.
The bankruptcy filing, in September 2008, also cited the owner's inability to refinance a $31.7 million loan with USB Commercial Mortgage Trust.
The property faces likely large vacancies. The Oklahoma Health Care Authority, for one, plans to relocate to renovated space at the former Lincoln Plaza Hotel.
VTA Oklahoma City LLC — whose principal is Alan Robbins, an ex-California senator — bought the mall in 2005 for $48.5 million — 15 times what developers Jim Williams, John Bridwell and D.W. Garrett paid for it in 1994.
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