Land near stadium near foreclosure

by Rebekah L. Sanders The Arizona Republic July 24, 2010 12:00 AM

The family that owns the Arizona Cardinals is fending off foreclosure on land next to University of Phoenix Stadium where they had planned to build a skyscraper office tower, an organic farm, a hotel and townhomes.

The Bidwill family's project was dubbed cbd101, which stood for "central business district" and the Glendale location at Loop 101 and Bethany Home Road.

A notice of trustee sale, the first step in the foreclosure process, was issued July 14. The sale is scheduled for Oct. 13 by Western Regional Foreclosures.

Steve Roman, spokesman for the Bidwill company handling the project, Bethany Land Partners LLC, said Friday that the foreclosure does not indicate financial problems for the NFL team or any other Bidwill venture.

"The outcome of this specific project is completely isolated from, and has no effect on, any other Bidwill company," he said.

The original term of the loan for cbd101 has expired. "We are diligently working with our lender to arrive at a mutually agreeable solution for the cbd101 project. We made all our payments and were in full compliance up to the maturity date," he said. "Given the current economic conditions, the discussions with the lender are focused on restructuring the loan on commercially reasonable terms."

Many developers have faced similar problems. Most commercial-real-estate loans are due in full on maturity. Lenders can extend commercial loans after the term of the loan is reached or demand full payment from developers. The original principal balance of the Bethany Land Partners loan was $46.2 million.

The lender for cbd101 is a real-estate investment fund from the Maryland-based investment firm of Walker & Dunlop.

The family bought the 77 acres for $55 million in 2007.

The plans were grand: a $1.2 billion "urban community" with 2.7 million square feet of office space, a 40-story tower, 850 residential units, a public market, a working farm and solar panels above parking garages.

The first phase was planned to break ground as early as 2009, but the land remains vacant.



Land near stadium near foreclosure