Years later, Mosler Loft owners are still caught between JE Dunn and the Schuster Group and a $6.7 $2.7 million lien. To shed some light on the problem the owners have started a new public blog, Mosler Lofts Lien.
There is still the lien between JE Dunn and The Schuster Group/Belltown Developing Partners and Chicago Title was supposed to buy a bond with the intention of bonding around and asking the court to release all the individual owners.
Chicago Title, per Stephen Sirianni – Chicago Title Counsel, was in process of purchasing the bond. However it has been over two months and still no action.
Our lawyer James Fick of Bullivant Houser Bailey is working on getting a status from Chicago Title / Stephen Sirianni on the delay.
Hopefully more to come, we would all love to be out from under this lien.
Hopefully they get out from under this soon.
Correction: There was a summary judgment that lowered the original amount of the lien down to approx. $2.7 million.
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1 EconE // Feb 8, 2010 at 1:12 am
Kudos to Seth for fighting the fight.
After reading his blog entry regarding the HOA elections…I can say that IMO, Seth would be a good neighbor to have.
Best of luck.
Homeowners shouldn't be caught in the middle of this.
2 moslerinmate // Feb 9, 2010 at 6:35 pm
As a follow up the plaintiff actions in this law suit they appealed the judges order lowering the lien amount to $2.7 million. Unfortunately, the judge also ordered a stay or suspension of the trial proceedings. In King County appeals of this nature take aproximately 1 year to 1 1/4 of a year. Then the trial proceedings begin. Just prior to the challenge to the judges reduction of the lien the deposition of Mark Walsh was completed. From page 200 on there is an interesting exchange that states the delay in obtaining a certificate of occupany from June to October 2007 triggered a provision between the developer (Schuster) & his investment partners providing the investors with an additional 8% return on their dollar. This goes hand in hand with prior pronouncments that the investors would get a 20 % net return on their investment. Further there are investors who are also homeowners. Great to see greed & pitting neighbors against one another.
What doesn't come across to many is the “bond around” procedure allows for homeowners to effectively have clean title. The cost to bond around the $2.7, aproximately $150,000.
Have there been any private sales out of 150 units. YES, just ONE!!! In that instant it appears the sale price was $50,000 below the original sale price. What does this mean. Look at it this way the unit sold was orginally $640K. If the builder J.E Dunn were to eventually prevail the share of the unit sold would be $50K in forclosure. Yes each owner faces forclosure should the “China Syndrome” occur.
3 Moslerinmate // Feb 9, 2010 at 9:02 pm
There are internal discussions going on within the Mosler Community. First, there are those who state: “you're hurting attracting potential buyers”. Maybe so but the truth always comes out. If you are willing to entertain the notion of buying into this building your realtor is going to have to lay out the ugly ramifications of the lien problems. In one instance, a reator/homeowner readily admits he has stopped showing this building because of the legal mess. Besides he's at a loss to describe how we got here in the first place. Second, we have those who both bought units this building & an invested in the building. Bad combination. One former board member was known to run down to the PI office everytime something looked or smelled about this building. Third, there are those for many reasons really have to sell. One set of owners had a job transfer back east. Another set is about to have a second child & are out of space ect ect. Because of this and many other problems the Board is beset with many many problems on the allowance of rental. The agenda now spends more time on this item than any other. Why would this be a problem? The govering document at the Mosler places a percentage cap on rentals.
Now the gist of the matter. This is a legal problem between the builder J.E. Dunn & the developer Mark Schuster. How did the homeowners get involed. In a quark in Washington State law; Contractors & Sub Contractors are required to also file suit against the homeowner. In a recent public forum, an attorney for the plaintiff J.E. Dunn stated “this is a nasty suit”. “Having the homeowners locked in is an excellent form of LEVERAGE”! Innocent parties get screwed & the real actors in the suit play a high stakes game of poker.
Another developer in late fall was faced with a rash of liens. His response he Bonded Around immediately stating I don't want the homeowners invloved. Bravo, a developer who cares.
Reasons why Schuster should not care: 1. All units are sold, he doesn't have any inventory in the building. 2. He does have investor/homeowners in the building. 3. It would cost him/ the Limited Liability Corporation money, that would be subtracted from the profits he has promised to distribute to his investors. 4. The LLC can go bankrupt at any moment. It's only a corporate shell. Remember “limited Liability” 5. Schuster doesn't own the homowners a damn thing. His only problem is he lives in the largest penthouse.
So should you consider buying into the Mosler? Yes, once the lien mess is gone. Should you invest or pre-buy into Schusters next project on Western & Ceder Ave. Do so informed & at your own risk.
4 John // Apr 27, 2010 at 1:14 pm
All Molser liens are released!
http://blog.seattlepi.com/urbancondospaces/arch...
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