DELINQUENT DEBT: WEST OAKS MALL SALE! Here’s another chance to clean up some of the wreckage left by mysterious investor Edward Okun: “West Oaks Mall in Houston . . . has $81.3 million in delinquent debt attached to it in the form of commercial mortgage-backed securities. Joseph Luzinski, the federally appointed bankruptcy trustee for West Oaks Mall, said he hopes to sell the mall by year’s end, though store closures continue to hamper its value. [The mall] . . . is about 80% occupied, having lost a J.C. Penney, Linens ‘n Things and Whitehall Jewelers. The mall recently cut a deal to keep its Steve & Barry’s LLC store open amid that retailer’s bankruptcy. The special servicer for the mall’s debt, LNR Partners Inc., attempted to foreclose in September 2007, but Mr. Okun forestalled the move by putting the mall into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection the next month. A federal grand jury indicted Mr. Okun on fraud charges last March after his 1031 Tax Group LLP, a company that helped facilitate tax-free real-estate deals for small investors, collapsed into bankruptcy and didn’t return $132 million of investors’ money.” [Wall St. Journal; previously]
Sign up for the Newsletter
I see that dude all the time!!!
I thought it was turned into an office park years ago???
Tex,
You must be thinking about Westwood Mall (59 @ Bissonnett) which is now an office park. West Oaks Mall is located at Hwy 6 @ Westheimer.
I am always amused by everyone in Houston displaying such anger over developments gone wrong. It is time Houstonian’s took back their city. I am proud to be from Houston and Texas for that matter, but I hate to see all the charm stripped from my hometown. Grow some balls people and vote for zoning laws! We all watched the bungalows near River Oaks Shopping Center bite the dust, only to be replaced with ugly towers of cheap wealth. The regal brick brownstones of New York are an example of how one can get the most use out of urban land sites. I am ashamed to see the cluster of cheaply built town homes that have taken over the inner-loop. If we had zoning laws malls like West Oaks might not even exsist. The public needs to wake up to the fact that local developers have fought zoning to keep larger more responsible firms from building in Houston. WAKE UP!