[Source: Ken Alltucker, Arizona Republic] — A lender is seeking to foreclose on the Viad Corporate Center, a high-rise office tower on Central Avenue in Phoenix, the latest example of the region’s commercial real-estate woes. Bank of America has asked a Maricopa County Superior Court judge to appoint a receiver for the signature tower at 1850 N. Central Ave. The lender said the building’s owner has not kept current since December on a $65 million loan. A spokesman for Costa Mesa-based real-estate investment firm McCarthy Cook & Co., the building’s owner, declined to comment on the lender’s action.
The ownership group, MCC/I&G Viad Office Tower Owner LLC, acquired the 478,000-square-foot tower near the height of the Valley’s real-estate boom in 2006 for about $105 million. At the time, the office tower was nearly full. Yet occupancy has dipped to less than 80 percent with significant leases expiring next year.
BofA said in court documents that, since December, the building’s owner has not paid interest, tax and insurance escrows, late charges and other fees. Viad’s owners owed more than $3.9 million in back payments and fees as of January. With BofA seeking an accelerated repayment per the loan’s terms, the debt has escalated to over $81.2 million in principal, fees and other costs, the lender said in court documents. BofA wants the court to appoint San Diego-based Trigild Inc. as the building’s receiver. Trigild specializes in distressed-property management, receivership and loan recovery. [Note: Read the full article at Bank of America moves to foreclose on Viad Tower in midtown Phoenix.]
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