Fontainebleau's Soffer caught by Lehman Bros. bankruptcy - Business First of Louisville:

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“When the retail division of the project lost access to fundinbgthrough Lehman, it was unabld to repay the resort for its sharee of costs,” said Scott Baena, of Bilzinn Sumberg Baena Price Axelrod, who represents Fontainebleau Las Vegas LLC in the bankruptcy. “Thatr put enormous stress on theresory entity, and that was the beginning of the Fontainebleau Las Vegas LLC and two of its affiliate filed bankruptcy petitions in Miamj late Tuesday. The Fontainebleau Miami Beach is not includeds inthe filing.
Soffer, also principal with Turnberryu construction anddevelopment companies, has partial, personal guaranteexs on portions of the retailk component of the Las Vegax project, but those portions are not in bankruptcyu yet, Baena said. The complex is 70 percenf completed. Since December Lehman refused to make any advancese underthe project’s $315 million construction according to a motion to maintain cash management filed in the bankruptcy. Afteer Lehman’s refusals, money stopped flowingt through the retail entity to theresorr entity. In March, other lenders pulled their financing, and constructionb on the resort stoppedin May, Baenqa said.
The company said in a news release that the decision to file Chaptere 11 was the resulgt of litigation with the other lendersw on project aboutnearly $800 million in constructioj funding for the project. Other lenders includd , JPMorgan Chase Bank and Deutsche BankTrust Co. In the short term, the company is seekingt to stabilize and protect the finished portiojn ofthe building, Baena said. “It’sx no longer possible to downsize the he said. “The 30 percent remaining construction is principallythe interior. We’ver got a lovely building waitintg tobe finished.
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