The auctioning of Shawnee Mall, which had been rescheduled several times with the most-recent date set for July 26, was called off, and Scott Kingrey, mall manager, said he wasn’t sure why the cancelation was made.
“They didn’t give a new, reschedule date,” Kingrey said. “They just didn’t tell us much.”
Calls made to Larry Ball, an attorney with the Oklahoma City law firm representing Wachovia — the bank that carried the mall’s mortgage — were not returned Monday.
Word was received in April that the mall was up for sale at public auction, originally set for May 24. That sale was reset to June 28 and then was rescheduled again for July 26.
A document filed in 2004 with the Pottawatomie County Clerk’s Office showed the mall was mortgaged for $17,775,000, with a combined principal loan of $39.5 million for it and Brazos Mall in Lake Jackson, Texas.
The mortgage for the mall became due prior to Feb. 26, when Wachovia filed an intent to foreclose on the mall property, which is owned by Lightstone Group of Lakewood, N.J.
In May, Kingrey said Lightstone is not behind in rent but that the bank “just wants the note paid off.”
“It’s the end of the term, so they want to settle up,” he said.
Kingrey said mall shoppers shouldn’t notice any difference when and if the ownership of the mall changes. He said the mall has been sold several times with no changes that would affect customers.
“For merchants, if the mall is sold, it basically just changes the address for where they send their payments to,” he said.
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