The court named CB Richard Ellis Asset Services Group receiver of the 30-story property, allowing it to manage the tower while the foreclosure complaint filed by Bank of America N.A. and Aurora Bank FSB winds its way through the courts.
Despite the legal issues, Norman Bertke, managing director of CB Richard Ellis Inc. Asset Services Group, said both the current owner and the banks that filed the lawsuit have a “vested interest” in keeping the property operating as usual and servicing tenants.
Alan Schaeffer, a partner with Pickrel Schaeffer & Ebeling, a law firm located in the tower, said he has seen no changes since CBRE took over day-to-day operations.
“From the tenant’s perspective, it really hasn’t changed one iota,” he said. “And it’s always been good.”
Bertke declined to say how full the tower is. But a survey of the local office market conducted by Gem Real Estate Group released earlier this year said the tower was about 21.7 percent empty in 2008.
A handful of other high-profile downtown Dayton buildings have faced similar challenges over the last couple of years.
In 2007, Titan Capital Investment Group, a Philadelphia-based firm, purchased 333 and 349 W. First St., 111 W. First St. and 130 W. Second St. through sheriff’s auctions after they were foreclosed upon. The former Mead Tower also went into foreclosure in 2007, but since has been repurchased and has added Key Bank as its anchor tenant.
“Oftentimes peoples’ perception is that the building is vacant and not competitive in the marketplace” when it goes into receivership, said Shelley Dickstein, Dayton’s assistant city manager for strategic development. “That’s not the case with the Kettering Tower.
“At this point, we don’t see it as a major red flag,” she said. It simply is a sign more often than not that the financial structure of the building isn’t working.”
Sandy Gudorf, president of the Downtown Dayton Partnership, said anytime a major building goes into receivership it’s cause for concern.
“But the Kettering Tower, it’s always been a solid building downtown with a lot of loyal tenants who have been in this building for a long time,” she said.
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