The office building at 5660 Greenwood Plaza Blvd. within the Triad Office Complex. (BusinessDen file)
A lender that recently foreclosed on a Denver Tech Center office complex has sued the property’s Denver-based former owner, saying a failure to turn over tenant security deposits and other factors mean the firm owes millions.
Oconee Real Estate Holdings I LLC, an affiliate of New York-based Voya Financial, financed Focus Property Group’s purchase of the Triad Office Complex in Greenwood Village with a $53.7 million loan in February 2020.
After Focus defaulted, a foreclosure auction was held in December. Voya assumed ownership of the complex when its $46.4 million credit bid — about $7 million less than the loan amount — was the only bid received.
Bahman Shafa
In its lawsuit filed Monday against Focus and its CEO Bahman Shafa, however, Voya says getting the property isn’t enough.
Loans can be “recourse” or “nonrecourse.” With nonrecourse loans, in the event of default, lenders are limited to seizing the loan collateral — in this case, the property — even if the value of the property doesn’t fully cover the loan amount. Recourse loans allow a lender to go after additional assets.
Voya says in its lawsuit that the company’s loan arrangement with Focus was “typical … in a modern commercial mortgage financing transaction.” The company says the loan was “generally nonrecourse,” but that Focus “specifically agreed to be liable” for certain costs if Voya incurred them.
Voya claims the company is owed at least $2.2 million for “waste” that occurred at the property due to Focus’ failure to perform maintenance and repairs. The lender says that Focus failed to keep a parking garage “in a fully operational condition that is safe for tenant use” in addition to making HVAC and electrical repairs, removing dead trees and other things.
Voya says that Focus failed to deposit tenant rents into a clearing account as required by the loan agreement, and that the rents “were misappropriated and applied to items other than the normal and necessary operating expenses of the property.” And it says that Focus failed to turn over any tenant security deposits — which total $180,000 — when the lender assumed ownership.
Voya also says it is owed for “various occasions” during Focus’ ownership when Voya provided Focus with funds to pay various operating expenses. The lender claims Focus didn’t actually use the money for those expenses. As an example, Voya says it gave Focus $201,000 to repair an irrigation line break and was repaid, despite Focus receiving insurance proceeds related to the break.
The figures included in the lawsuit — $2.2 million in waste, $180,000 in security deposits and $201,000 for the line break — total about $2.6 million, but don’t appear to be a comprehensive tally of how much Voya believes it is owed. Polsinelli attorney William Meyer, who is representing the lender, didn’t respond to a request for comment from BusinessDen regarding the total figure.
Focus CEO Shafa also didn’t respond to requests for comment.
The Triad complex consists of three buildings totaling 415,000 square feet at 5660-5680 Greenwood Plaza Blvd. The complex was the second major office property in the Denver area to sell at foreclosure since the pandemic. The first was downtown’s Denver Energy Center, which was purchased through a lender’s credit bid in June 2022.
The office building at 5660 Greenwood Plaza Blvd. within the Triad Office Complex. (BusinessDen file)
A lender that recently foreclosed on a Denver Tech Center office complex has sued the property’s Denver-based former owner, saying a failure to turn over tenant security deposits and other factors mean the firm owes millions.
Oconee Real Estate Holdings I LLC, an affiliate of New York-based Voya Financial, financed Focus Property Group’s purchase of the Triad Office Complex in Greenwood Village with a $53.7 million loan in February 2020.
After Focus defaulted, a foreclosure auction was held in December. Voya assumed ownership of the complex when its $46.4 million credit bid — about $7 million less than the loan amount — was the only bid received.
Bahman Shafa
In its lawsuit filed Monday against Focus and its CEO Bahman Shafa, however, Voya says getting the property isn’t enough.
Loans can be “recourse” or “nonrecourse.” With nonrecourse loans, in the event of default, lenders are limited to seizing the loan collateral — in this case, the property — even if the value of the property doesn’t fully cover the loan amount. Recourse loans allow a lender to go after additional assets.
Voya says in its lawsuit that the company’s loan arrangement with Focus was “typical … in a modern commercial mortgage financing transaction.” The company says the loan was “generally nonrecourse,” but that Focus “specifically agreed to be liable” for certain costs if Voya incurred them.
Voya claims the company is owed at least $2.2 million for “waste” that occurred at the property due to Focus’ failure to perform maintenance and repairs. The lender says that Focus failed to keep a parking garage “in a fully operational condition that is safe for tenant use” in addition to making HVAC and electrical repairs, removing dead trees and other things.
Voya says that Focus failed to deposit tenant rents into a clearing account as required by the loan agreement, and that the rents “were misappropriated and applied to items other than the normal and necessary operating expenses of the property.” And it says that Focus failed to turn over any tenant security deposits — which total $180,000 — when the lender assumed ownership.
Voya also says it is owed for “various occasions” during Focus’ ownership when Voya provided Focus with funds to pay various operating expenses. The lender claims Focus didn’t actually use the money for those expenses. As an example, Voya says it gave Focus $201,000 to repair an irrigation line break and was repaid, despite Focus receiving insurance proceeds related to the break.
The figures included in the lawsuit — $2.2 million in waste, $180,000 in security deposits and $201,000 for the line break — total about $2.6 million, but don’t appear to be a comprehensive tally of how much Voya believes it is owed. Polsinelli attorney William Meyer, who is representing the lender, didn’t respond to a request for comment from BusinessDen regarding the total figure.
Focus CEO Shafa also didn’t respond to requests for comment.
The Triad complex consists of three buildings totaling 415,000 square feet at 5660-5680 Greenwood Plaza Blvd. The complex was the second major office property in the Denver area to sell at foreclosure since the pandemic. The first was downtown’s Denver Energy Center, which was purchased through a lender’s credit bid in June 2022.
