Lender Takes Back Point Ruston Properties in Foreclosure

The Waterfront Market at Ruston building and an accompanying parking garage in Tacoma have gone back to one of the project’s original lenders.

American United Resource Company III, an Oregon-based EB-5 lender, took legal ownership of the properties after the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office issued a deed formally transferring title to the lender, the Puget Sound Business Journal reported. Operations at both sites are expected to continue unchanged, and there are no current plans to sell the properties.

The foreclosure process kicked off in 2024 after Point Ruston Phase II, an entity associated with original developers Loren Cohen and the late Michael Cohen, did not pay a court-ordered $91 million judgment to AURC III. That foreclosure stemmed from a 2013 deal in which AURC lent Point Ruston Phase II $66 million. When Point Ruston Phase II failed to pay back the loan, the lender added $25 million worth of interest and fees, totaling $91 million.

As part of the judgment, Point Ruston Phase II still has to pay off the $25 million, though a timeline to collect the payment hasn’t been set.

The 292,000-square-foot parking garage at the site is split up across two parcels totaling 246,000 and 46,000 square feet. Serpanok Construction, a subcontractor on the project, was awarded the larger of the two parking garage parcels, along with the 32,000-square-foot Waterfront Market at Ruston above it, in a prior legal ruling, according to the Business Journal.

Because AURC III is the senior lender on the property, it exercised its lien rights to foreclosure on both the parcel awarded to Serpanok and the remaining 46,000-square-foot section of the garage. In doing so, AURC III was able to consolidate ownership of the entire garage and market structure.

The full parking garage and Waterfront Market at Ruston building has an assessed value of $24 million, according to the Business Journal. The entire property spans 324,000 square feet across 7.4 acres.

AURC III includes 132 foreign investors who each contributed $500,000 for investment in 2013 via the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services EB-5 program. They were able to obtain green cards in the U.S. in exchange for their investments.

— Chris Malone Méndez