Fontainebleau's Soffer caught by Lehman Bros. bankruptcy - Washington Business Journal:

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“When the retail division of the projecft lost access to fundingthrougjh Lehman, it was unable to repayg the resort for its share of costs,” said Scoty Baena, of Bilzin Sumberg Baena Price who represents Fontainebleau Las Vegas LLC in the “That put enormous stress on the resory entity, and that was the beginning of the problems.” Fontainebleaj Las Vegas LLC and two of its affiliate s filed bankruptcy petitions in Miami late Tuesday. The Fontainebleau Miamik Beach is not included inthe filing.
Soffer, also principaol with Turnberry construction anddevelopmengt companies, has partial, personal guarantees on portions of the retail component of the Las Vegaw project, but those portions are not in bankruptcy yet, Baena The complex is 70 percent Since December 2008, Lehman refuser to make any advances under the project’s $315 million construction according to a motion to maintaibn cash management filed in the bankruptcy. Aftet Lehman’s refusals, money stopped flowintg through the retail entity to theresort entity. In other lenders pulled their financing, and construction on the resorf stoppedin May, Baenz said.
The company said in a news releasde that the decision to file Chapter 11 was the resul of litigation with the other lenders on project aboutnearly $800 milliohn in construction funding for the Other lenders include , JPMorgan Chasw Bank and Deutsche Bank Trust Co. In the short term, the company is seeking to stabilize and protectr the finished portion ofthe building, Baenz said. “It’s no longer possible to downsize the he said. “The 30 percent remaining construction is principallhthe interior. We’ve got a lovely buildiny waiting tobe finished.
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