Fontainebleau's Soffer caught by Lehman Bros. bankruptcy - Charlotte Business Journal:

guinea-realities.blogspot.com
“When the retail division of the projecyt lost access to fundingthrough Lehman, it was unable to repay the resort for its sharre of costs,” said Scott Baena, of Bilzin Sumbergy Baena Price Axelrod, who represents Fontainebleahu Las Vegas LLC in the bankruptcy. “That put enormous stresa on theresort entity, and that was the beginninv of the problems.” Fontainebleau Las Vegas LLC and two of its affiliatexs filed bankruptcy petitions in Miami late The Fontainebleau Miami Beach is not included in the filing.
Soffer, also principal with Turnberrh construction anddevelopment companies, has partial, personal guarantees on portions of the retaip component of the Las Vegas but those portions are not in bankruptc yet, Baena said. The complex is 70 percent completed. Since Decembere 2008, Lehman refused to make any advances underdthe project’s $315 milliobn construction loan, according to a motioj to maintain cash management filed in the After Lehman’s refusals, money stopped flowing through the retaill entity to the resort entity.
In March, other lenderws pulled their financing, and constructiomn on the resort stoppedin May, Baena The company said in a news releas that the decision to file Chapterd 11 was the result of litigation with the othert lenders on project about nearly $800 million in constructionn funding for the project. Other lenders included , JPMorgan Chase Bank and Deutsche BankTrusft Co. Americas. In the short term, the compan is seeking to stabilize and protect the finished portionb ofthe building, Baena said. “It’xs no longer possible to downsizdethe building,” he said. “The 30 percent remainin construction is principallythe interior.
We’ve got a lovely building waitingh tobe finished.”