DeVeaux Village developer owes 4 firms $329,000
16.05.2008 11:01
Shopping
- Source: toledoblade.com
The local developer of the newly rehabilitated DeVeaux Village Shopping Center at 2600 West Sylvania Ave. in Toledo owes four contractors $329,000 on the $2.5 million project. The contractors allege they have not been paid for work done between last October and April on the 130,000-square-foot shopping center at Sylvania Avenue and Douglas Road, according to liens filed with the Lucas County Recorder's office. A combined 10 mechanic's liens were filed between January and this month against the developer, Timberstone Group, of Holland. M&M Heating & Cooling Inc., of Toledo claims it is owed $124,000; Spartan Construction Company Inc., of Toledo, $101,000; LaRoy Plumbing & Heating Inc., of Sylvania, $77,000; and TNS Inc., of Perrysburg, $27,000. Mike Denman, a principal at Timberstone, which has developed several shopping centers in the Toledo area, admitted that the firm owes the money. "Our [subcontractors] did a spectacular job for us. There is no dispute we owe them the money," he said. A bank lending Timberstone funds for the DeVeaux project sustained losses on subprime mortgage loans and had to write off those loans and lay off many employees, Mr. Denman said. He declined to name the lender. "We got caught in the middle," he said. Timberstone is refinancing its construction loans with another lender, but the effort is taking time, he said. The company hopes to have the liens resolved by July, he added. One subcontractor, Steve LaRoy, of LaRoy Plumbing, said subcontractors are trying to be patient but received failed promises of payment in November and January. "Everybody is just trying to collect their money on it," Mr. LaRoy said. "I know there's a lot of problems." Timberstone redeveloped the 50-year-old shopping center and added several tenants, including Cedar Creek church, a Goodwill clothing store, a sports bar and eatery, and a retailer selling fresh meats. It still has a vacant 56,000-square-foot former Food Town supermarket, but Mr. Denman said Timberstone has potential tenants for that site. An ongoing lawsuit in Lucas County Common Pleas Court filed by Ohio Building Restoration Inc., of Toledo, alleges Timberstone owes the subcontractor $59,000 for masonry work on the Bartley Lofts housing project in downtown Toledo. The subcontractor alleges it was not paid according to a contract for brick work on five stories of the development at 745 Washington St.
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