First National Center

[ljbab728]

There always seems to be a fly in the ointment for this building.

Downtown Oklahoma City First National Center sale is in limbo | NewsOK.com

A potential sale of downtown Oklahoma City’s First National Center could be thrown into question by a New York man who claims he is owed $6 million by former building owner Aaron Yashouafar and Yashouafar’s brother.

New York resident Howard Abselet is attempting to file a lien on First National Center, which would allow him to collect proceeds from any sale of the property.

[Pete]

So, the suit claims Yashouafar still has some sort of ownership interest in FNC and that a $6 million lien should be placed on the property because Yash screwed this guy in another deal.

Sigh.

It's not completely surprising because it was never clear how and why FNC was suddenly transferred to Neman (the ostensible new owner) who I knew to be a friend of Yashouafar, which I wrote about in a previous post.

If the lien is filed due to Yashouafar's ownership, this is completely at the feet of the bankruptcy court which allowed him to stall time after time and then let him completely off the hook rather than transferring ownership to the bank, which desperately wanted it back.

Also, Yashouafar could face fraud charges for not disclosing his remaining interest in the property to the court / bank.

[GoThunder]

I'm assuming this means the sale will definitely not close by the end of the year like was originally hoped?

[Pete]

I'm sure it complicates thing but remember, they are just attempting to file a lien -- hasn't happened yet, and the court will have to rule.

Also, this would come out of the pocket of the Neman/Yashouafar if and when it was filed. Would have to be paid out of the proceeds of the sale unless the new owners agreed to assume the debt.

[Steve]

This note should be appearing now or very soon atop the story today. It will also run in the newspaper:
A story that appeared on page C1 Saturday contained incorrect information about the ownership of the First National Center in downtown Oklahoma City. The property has been held since 2012 by the Los Angeles-based Neman family.
- Steve Lackmeyer and Brianna Bailey

[Pete]

This note should be appearing now or very soon atop the story today. It will also run in the newspaper:
A story that appeared on page C1 Saturday contained incorrect information about the ownership of the First National Center in downtown Oklahoma City. The property has been held since 2012 by the Los Angeles-based Neman family.
- Steve Lackmeyer and Brianna Bailey

So, Yashouafar definitely does not have any sort of ownership interest?

If so, no way could a lien be granted.

[Snowman]

So, Yashouafar definitely does not have any sort of ownership interest?

If so, no way could a lien be granted.

Given how long proceedings have dragged on, it seems odd they did not file this at least months ago (if not years ago)

[Stickman]

Didn't the same thing happen to the Skirvin?

[Just the facts]

I'm shocked that shady business people are associated with other shady people - shocked I tell you.

[Spartan]

So, the suit claims Yashouafar still has some sort of ownership interest in FNC and that a $6 million lien should be placed on the property because Yash screwed this guy in another deal.

Sigh.

It's not completely surprising because it was never clear how and why FNC was suddenly transferred to Neman (the ostensible new owner) who I knew to be a friend of Yashouafar, which I wrote about in a previous post.

If the lien is filed due to Yashouafar's ownership, this is completely at the feet of the bankruptcy court which allowed him to stall time after time and then let him completely off the hook rather than transferring ownership to the bank, which desperately wanted it back.

Also, Yashouafar could face fraud charges for not disclosing his remaining interest in the property to the court / bank.

That's why I asked. I think a lot of this board has gotten used to writing off my thoughts because they're so tired of hearing from me (lol)

So the buyer then is or isn't connected to Yash?

[HOT ROD]

i was going to say the same thing, why wait so long to file for a lien? Only when a deal is in place do we hear from him/them. .... Shady.

[UnFrSaKn]

New story from Steve today.

[Pete]

It doesn't say anything new.

Just that this group is "trying" to file a lien.

The headline says the property has hit a "roadblock" and the previous one said the sale is in "limbo". Neither of those statements at the time they were published were true.


If, in fact, the courts allow the lien then that could cause a problem. But that hasn't happened yet and even if it does there is nothing in either article that says with certainty the pending sale would be affected.

[bchris02]

So both articles seemed very negative regarding this. This morning's mentioned the possibility of a "very unhappy" ending. Are you more optimistic about this deal than Steve is? When do you think we should know for sure and see concrete plans as to what is in store for the future of this building?

[Pete]

From the last article:

It’s unknown whether such a filing could derail a pending sale with an unidentified California buyer who already has met with city officials about obtaining public assistance in redeveloping the 1-million-square-foot complex.

That doesn't match the headlines or this sub-head:

Legal issues again are preventing potential redevelopment of First National Center, downtown OKC’s languishing landmark at Park and Robinson.

Someone is attempting to file a lien. That's all we know. Anyone can attempt to file a lien but a court has to grant it, which hasn't happened yet.

And even if filed, there is no way to know at this point the potential impact on the pending sale.

[UnFrSaKn]

Oklahoma City's First National Center set to go vacant as sale is clouded by lien filing | News OK

[Pete]

Fuuuuuuudge.

[ljbab728]

Someone is attempting to file a lien. That's all we know. Anyone can attempt to file a lien but a court has to grant it, which hasn't happened yet.

And even if filed, there is no way to know at this point the potential impact on the pending sale.

I guess we know now.

[Plutonic Panda]

So after reading the article I came to the conclusion that this was not good for the sale. Not happy about this not one bit I am.

[SouthsideSooner]

Steve does such a great job of providing the inside scoop of what's going on downtown... I greatly admire his in-depth work. It's really a shame he doesn't post much here anymore

[CuatrodeMayo]

Get ready to start hearing the term "functionally obsolete"...

[Urbanized]

Yep. I've said it before here and been shouted down for my trouble, but expect to hear the demolition drumbeat start. For some rubble-rousers no old building is off-limits.

[PhiAlpha]

So what happens next? Is this ever going to be renovated?

[jn1780]

So what happens next? Is this ever going to be renovated?

It will probably sit vacant for at least a year and maybe a whole lot longer. I wouldn't immediately start getting scared about it being demolished since it is a higher profile building that would face great opposition to that and it wouldn't be nearly as cheap to demolish it as the Stage Center.

[PhiAlpha]

Forgive my lack of knowledge of real property law, but if this gets drawn out, could the city use eminent domain to take over the property? It would probably take a lose interpretation of the laws regarding eminent domain, but it has certainly been used for much less just causes. Being in control of first national would probably be a huge liability but I would imagine they could find something to do with it or a willing buyer (though I don't know the rules about flipping condemned property). I know a city somewhere used eminent domain to condem a bunch of homes then flipped it to a company to develop a mall, but that created an uproar.