Wilmington Trust is suing a joint venture between Simon Property Group and Hudson’s Bay Company for allegedly failing to make mortgage payments.
Ten Saks Fifth Avenue and 24 Lord & Taylor locations are named in the lawsuit, which was filed earlier this month in Miami-Dade County Circuit Court, the South Florida Business Journal reported.
The lawsuit alleges that the borrowers have not made any payments since March. Wilmington, which filed the complaint as part of a commercial mortgage-backed securities trust, is suing Saks Dadeland Leasehold LLC, which leases the Saks Fifth Avenue at Dadeland Mall in Miami.
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JPMorgan Chase, Column Financial and Bank of America provided the $846.2 million loan in 2015 for 36 properties in Florida, New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Connecticut, Ohio, Texas, California and Georgia.
A spokesperson for Hudson’s Bay told the Business Journal that the lawsuit has “no impact on Saks Fifth Avenue, its stores or its operations” and that the company is disappointed that “in the context of a global health crisis, the lenders would choose litigation over cooperation.”
Hudson’s Bay acquired Saks Fifth Avenue in 2013, and previously owned Lord & Taylor before selling the chain to Le Tote in 2019.
Lord & Taylor has been hit hard by the pandemic; the parent company it filed for bankruptcy in August, and announced that it would close all of its remaining locations.
[SFBJ] — Katherine Kallergis