RiverHawks Stadium in foreclosure, action doesn't affect team

[wasteland]

Northside Community Bank, a suburban Chicago bank, is foreclosing on Rockford RiverHawks Stadium in Loves Park.

The Gurnee-based bank is owed $4.68 million on a $4.7 million mortgage taken out on the property in August 2006. Northside filed the foreclosure suit on Feb. 2.

Bryan Wickline, Rockford RiverHawks president, said the foreclosure doesn't affect the baseball team, which is scheduled to begin its home schedule on May 25 against the Lake Erie Crushers.

"This foreclosure has nothing to do with the organization," Wickline said. "This is between the bank and the ownership of the stadium. We have a long-term lease. We’ll be working with the bank or with a new entity."

The foreclosure filing was not unexpected. Three of the four limited liability corporations named in the suit were set up by Kurt Carlson. Carlson, like land developers world wide, was caught with too much property when the real estate market crumbled in 2007. Developers suddenly were paying bank and tax payments on property they couldn't build on or sell for even a fraction of the original purchase price.

Last year along, foreclosure suits were filed against such noted local developers as Rubloff Development, Steve Murphy, Jan Mansfield, Summit LLC and Florian Guski.

http://www.rrstar.com/blogs/alexgary/x5 ... ffect-team

[nksports]

The stadium owners managed to pay just $20,000 on a $4.7 million mortgage? And that was 5 1/2 years ago? Something smells fishy.

[wasteland]

[quote=""nksports""]The stadium owners managed to pay just $20,000 on a $4.7 million mortgage? And that was 5 1/2 years ago? Something smells fishy.[/quote]

You must of missed what has gone on in that time frame with real estate.

Ground was broken in 2004 which is when financing would of been secured. When the stadium was complete in 2006 I bet an interest only loan was put into place. Plus we also don't know how long the stadium has failed to make payments. Locally this was no surprise.

Nothing fishy, just reality.

[Eddie]

It looks like $20000 TOTAL not $20000 a month. I think that's what's being pointed out. You can get $4.7M at $20000-30000 a month under low prime situations without adjustable or interest only mortgages.

Either way, it looks like another ballpark will be up for sale soon if someone doesn't step in.

[Ken, Steelheads fan]

[quote=""wasteland""]...Bryan Wickline, Rockford RiverHawks president, said the foreclosure doesn't affect the baseball team, which is scheduled to begin its home schedule on May 25 against the Lake Erie Crushers.

"This foreclosure has nothing to do with the organization," Wickline said. "This is between the bank and the ownership of the stadium. We have a long-term lease. We’ll be working with the bank or with a new entity."
...
[/quote]

Sounds like famous last words to me, especially considering problems with other area independent teams.

[nksports]

[quote=""Eddie""]It looks like $20000 TOTAL not $20000 a month. I think that's what's being pointed out. You can get $4.7M at $20000-30000 a month under low prime situations without adjustable or interest only mortgages.

Either way, it looks like another ballpark will be up for sale soon if someone doesn't step in.[/quote]

I should clarify. It would likely take several payments to knock off $20,000 on a $4.7 million mortgage.

[J.J. Smith]

The bank was trying to keep that property off the books for as long as possible. It's actual value is way less than $4.7 million. I remember reading an article from a Rockford paper awhile back listing it's actual worth at around $2.5 million. Whoever made that loan is probably unemployed by now. I don't think they are going to want to be in the unstable world of indy baseball for a nanosecond longer than necessary, so look for a quick sale at a very low price in the near future.

[Eddie]

[quote=""nksports""]I should clarify. It would likely take several payments to knock off $20,000 on a $4.7 million mortgage.[/quote]

6 months.
$4.7M
7% interest (which they most likely got a better rate)
Knocks off about $4,000 a month

Sorry about being so technical but it's my field.

I'm as curious as others are to know the true story on this one.
I expect the ballpark to be sold for like $1.5-2M if it gets sold at all.
Look at Sussex which is still for sale at $2M.

[nksports]

[quote=""J.J. Smith""]Whoever made that loan is probably unemployed by now.[/quote]

More likely the bank president with a multimillion dollar bonus after the bailout.

[J.J. Smith]

[quote=""nksports""]More likely the bank president with a multimillion dollar bonus after the bailout.[/quote]

Yes, that is too often the case, but as for Northside Community Bank, there is no record of them taking any bailout money...

http://projects.propublica.org/bailout/list/simple

...but it looks as if maybe they should have. They have a troubled asset ratio of 60%!...

http://banktracker.investigativereporti ... nity-bank/