Zeppelin Station is an office building in RiNo with a food hall on the first floor. (Courtesy Zeppelin Development)
The debate over a receiver for Zeppelin Station is not over.
On Friday, four days after appointing one to oversee Zeppelin Development’s office building and food hall in RiNo, Denver District Court Judge J. Eric Elliff paused his order to allow for a hearing on the matter.
“It appears to the Court that Plaintiff is contractually entitled to the appointment of a receiver in this circumstance,” Elliff wrote. “However, the Court also agrees that the parameters of the receiver’s duties and perhaps the identity of the receiver bear re-examination.”
Zeppelin Development CEO Kyle Zeppelin
Zeppelin Station, at 3501 Wazee St., is a four-story building that includes a food hall and the headquarters of Alterra Mountain Co., although the latter has indicated it might move. In 2019, a year after completing the building, Denver-based Zeppelin Development took out a $32 million loan on the building from San Francisco-based Wells Fargo.
Wells Fargo said that loan has been in default since June 2021 because Zeppelin has failed to meet income-to-debt ratios spelled out in the loan agreement. Zeppelin said those “technical defaults” are due to COVID rent concessions and emphasizes that the firm was making its required payments on the debt.
Denver-based Zeppelin originally asked for a hearing to be held when it became the first local office building owner in recent years to push back against a receivership request. But Elliff appointed The Stapleton Group as receiver on April 22 without holding one.
Zeppelin asked the judge to reconsider in a court filing this past Thursday, saying it had expected to bring up additional arguments at a hearing.
Zeppelin continues to argue that Wells Fargo’s receivership request should be rejected. But if there must be a receiver, the firm said, the job shouldn’t go to The Stapleton Group. Zeppelin noted that Stapleton — which, like Wells Fargo, is based in California — has previously been brought in on other troubled Wells Fargo loans.
“Any such Receiver must be a neutral officer of the Court, not a long-term business connection of Wells Fargo’s,” Zeppelin wrote in an April 25 filing. “For these reasons, Defendants believe that Cordes & Company is a far more appropriate choice. It has significant experience managing relevant assets, has been rooted in Denver since the 1980s, is not aligned with any party, and will provide services at more reasonable hourly rates.”
Zeppelin also pushed back against the breadth of the receivership order, which states that the company must get permission to enter the property. Zeppelin noted that it has employees that work in the building, and that the order would seem to bar its staff from getting lunch from the food hall.
A date for the hearing had not been scheduled as of press time.
Read more: Troubled towers: Breaking down Denver’s distressed office properties
Zeppelin Station is an office building in RiNo with a food hall on the first floor. (Courtesy Zeppelin Development)
The debate over a receiver for Zeppelin Station is not over.
On Friday, four days after appointing one to oversee Zeppelin Development’s office building and food hall in RiNo, Denver District Court Judge J. Eric Elliff paused his order to allow for a hearing on the matter.
“It appears to the Court that Plaintiff is contractually entitled to the appointment of a receiver in this circumstance,” Elliff wrote. “However, the Court also agrees that the parameters of the receiver’s duties and perhaps the identity of the receiver bear re-examination.”
Zeppelin Development CEO Kyle Zeppelin
Zeppelin Station, at 3501 Wazee St., is a four-story building that includes a food hall and the headquarters of Alterra Mountain Co., although the latter has indicated it might move. In 2019, a year after completing the building, Denver-based Zeppelin Development took out a $32 million loan on the building from San Francisco-based Wells Fargo.
Wells Fargo said that loan has been in default since June 2021 because Zeppelin has failed to meet income-to-debt ratios spelled out in the loan agreement. Zeppelin said those “technical defaults” are due to COVID rent concessions and emphasizes that the firm was making its required payments on the debt.
Denver-based Zeppelin originally asked for a hearing to be held when it became the first local office building owner in recent years to push back against a receivership request. But Elliff appointed The Stapleton Group as receiver on April 22 without holding one.
Zeppelin asked the judge to reconsider in a court filing this past Thursday, saying it had expected to bring up additional arguments at a hearing.
Zeppelin continues to argue that Wells Fargo’s receivership request should be rejected. But if there must be a receiver, the firm said, the job shouldn’t go to The Stapleton Group. Zeppelin noted that Stapleton — which, like Wells Fargo, is based in California — has previously been brought in on other troubled Wells Fargo loans.
“Any such Receiver must be a neutral officer of the Court, not a long-term business connection of Wells Fargo’s,” Zeppelin wrote in an April 25 filing. “For these reasons, Defendants believe that Cordes & Company is a far more appropriate choice. It has significant experience managing relevant assets, has been rooted in Denver since the 1980s, is not aligned with any party, and will provide services at more reasonable hourly rates.”
Zeppelin also pushed back against the breadth of the receivership order, which states that the company must get permission to enter the property. Zeppelin noted that it has employees that work in the building, and that the order would seem to bar its staff from getting lunch from the food hall.
A date for the hearing had not been scheduled as of press time.
Read more: Troubled towers: Breaking down Denver’s distressed office properties
