Owners of First National Center in Oklahoma City declare Chapter 11 bankruptcy
Read The Story from The Verizon Wire Service
From The Village Voice about Yashouafar
From KOCO TV
Aaron Yashouafar Milbank Realty Site
Aaron Yashouafar Q&A
From NewsOK.com
From The OK Central
You can download the bankruptcy filing here. NYC
" They were proud of their $21 million sale to Californian Aaron Yashouafar. It might not have been in the best interest in the property or downtown, but it sure as heck was in the best interest of themselves and the seller, who reportedly had mortgaged the property to the hint to fund a disastrous investment in the Catskills.
I was immediately skeptical. That very first day I privately suggested to some downtown acquaintances that the deal might be immediately doomed -that such a high price could only lead to bankruptcy court.
We saw that happen today."
"He had a good public relations firm – Saxum and Renzi Stone – but by 2008 they were suing over unpaid billings."
Ouch. It’s never good when you get sued by your own public relations firm.
Liens and court filings started becoming commonplace, and Yashouafar was simply bewildered when I came around asking questions. In Los Angeles, such matters would be trivial, he explained, and wouldn’t be worth the time of a major newspaper reporter.
Yeah, maybe so. But by saying so, Yashouafar was showing a fundamental misunderstanding of Oklahoma City. This is a big city wired like a small town. And folks were talking. This was news. People care.
More popular tenants joined the exodus, including Italian Express, Becky’s Hallmark and The Buzz. The loss of such popular anchors made the space on the upper floors less valuable to potential corporate tenants.
In real estate the card shop, the coffee shop and Italian restaurant are considered amenities. For Yashouafar, they were just among the long list of folks he felt were due an increase in rent to Class A rates. He had promised to bring the building up to Class A levels, and by golly, the tenants had an obligation to share in the cost of getting to that goal.
Yashouafar had been warned these tenants had been burned by prior owners. They were not going to simply believe promises of a better future ahead – even if the landlord insisted he was different – that he would do what he said.
The tenants wanted to see visible progress. They wanted to see the cracked windows replaced. They wanted to see the restrooms rebuilt – and moved to each floor."
The owners of downtown Oklahoma City's First National Center, led by Milbank Real Estate Chief Executive Aaron Yashouafar, declare Chapter 11 bankruptcy following foreclosure by the mortgage holder.... Is Sky Las Vegas Next?
Photo of Robert Paisola, CEO and President, Western Capital International
BY STEVE LACKMEYER Oklahoman
Published: October 9, 2010
Owners of downtown Oklahoma City's landmark First National Center filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Thursday, just hours before a scheduled receivership hearing in Oklahoma County District Court.
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Owners of downtown Oklahoma City's landmark First National Center...
Owners of downtown Oklahoma City's landmark First National Center...
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At a glance
Top unsecured creditors→ThyssenKrupp Elevator Inc.: $591,731.
→LVI Environmental Service: $341,204.
→Trigen: $313,007.
→Cushman & Wakefield: $184,369.
→OG&E: $82,549.
→Superior Security: $64,686.
→Williams Automatic Sprinklers: $43,180.
→Transwestern: $37,155.
→First Maintenance: $25,321.
→Schindler Elevator: $22,946.
Still committed
"We are committed to our investment and our promise of supporting the downtown Oklahoma City business community,” Yashouafar said Friday. "Ownership of First National Center is reorganizing under Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Our tenants' leases remain secure and building operations will continue without interruption. This reorganization permits us to address the lenders' issues while continuing to renovate and lease this historic building.”Yashouafar spent much of the summer battling a foreclosure by Capmark Bank before Oklahoma County District Court Judge Vicki Robertson ruled in favor of Capmark and ordered both sides to agree on a receiver.
The receivership hearing scheduled for Friday morning was canceled. Rob Robertson, attorney for Capmark, could not be reached for comment.
Huge and historic
First National Center spans more than 1 million square feet and includes the 33-story, 79-year-old tower. The First National partnerships led by Yashouafar purchased the property in 2006 for $21 million.At the time of the purchase, the family-run Milbank Real Estate promised it would not repeat problems experienced with previous owners, who for example failed to fix broken windows.
"We stand by our word,” said Raymond Yashouafar, Milbank's vice president of operations, in a September 2006 interview.
"We have a good reputation where we've already done work. The previous ownership made a lot of promises, and didn't follow through. We don't do that.”
Four years later many of the same cracked windows remain in place. A renovation of the first floor retail arcade has remained unfinished — indeed, stalled for months. Several high-profile tenants chose to leave rather than agree to rent hikes.
Records show the Yashouafars are experiencing difficulties with properties across the country.
The Roosevelt, a historic building in Los Angeles, was placed in bankruptcy by Yashouafar while it was being converted into condominiums. And more than a dozen properties in the Bronx went into bankruptcy as tenants' complaints prompted The Village Voice to list Aaron Yashouafar as one among New York City's top 10 slumlords.
A website was created by tenants at Yashouafar's Sky Las Vegas condominiums earlier this year that posts pictures of broken elevators and flooded residences in the 47-story tower on the Las Vegas Strip. (Referring to THIS SITE AT http://www.SkyLasVegas.info
Dismissed claims
In a July interview with The Oklahoman, Aaron Yashouafar said First National was already a financial success story and he dismissed those who claimed he was a bad steward of the property. "Through the financial resources made available by the owners,” he said, "the management team has been able to raise the occupancy from the low 20 percent range to almost 65 percent in just four years."In a building as large as First National Center, this translates to over 400,000 square feet of new leases,” Yashouafar said. "I am not aware of any other building in downtown Oklahoma City experiencing such a transformation.”
Read more: http://newsok.com/city-landmark-is-bankrupt/article/3502837#ixzz11w1A43NY
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