Lender hits owner of Bradenton shopping mall with foreclosure action

The owner of a Bradenton shopping mall faces a foreclosure action over $22.9 million of debt.

The lender, Romspen US Master Mortgage LP, filed a foreclosure action that named Meyer Lebovitz, the owner of the Midtown DeSoto Square Mall, as a defendant.

Also named as defendants are two tenants of the Midtown DeSoto Square Mall, JC Penney Co. Inc. and Hudson’s Furniture Showroom, and the company that operates the mall.

But the foreclosure action won’t lead to a shutdown of the mall, according to Jerrell Davis, president of Madison Properties USA Southeast Region, which represents the owner and leads efforts to redevelop the Bradenton property.

A $20 million project is under way to revitalize Midtown DeSoto Square. The project will renovate a movie theater, transform the Piccadilly Cafeteria to an event space and musical performance venue, and add more space for entertainment.

But Steve Horn, partner at Ian Black Real Estate in Sarasota, told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune that Midtown DeSoto Square faces tough competition from the four-year-old Mall at University Town Center in Sarasota.

Horn also said Midtown DeSoto Square is hampered by the demographics of its neighborhood, calling it a “pretty tough world.” [Sarasota Herald-Tribune]