Expo hall is facing foreclosure
Debt unpaid as trade shows slip
The owner of the Bayside Exposition Center in Boston, struggling from a rapid drop in trade show traffic, is facing foreclosure, even as it proposes to redevelop the 30-acre property into a $1 billion waterfront neighborhood.
Corcoran Jennison Cos., a Boston real estate company, faces a forced auction on Bayside May 28 unless it can reach a deal with its lenders, LNR Massachusetts Partners, a division of LNR Property Corp., a Miami Beach development company.
An attorney for Corcoran Jennison said the firm was caught off guard by the foreclosure announcement, which was published in a legal notice in The Boston Globe yesterday.
The two parties have been negotiating for several months over Corcoran's missed debt payments.
"Given these discussions, we find it very strange that the lender is suddenly publishing legal notices in newspapers without notifying us in advance," attorney John Mostyn said.
He added that the talks are ongoing and that Corcoran Jennison anticipates a "very positive resolution."
Executives with LNR Partners were unavailable for comment yesterday.
The exposition center has been struggling for several years as much of its income-generating trade show business has migrated to the much larger Boston Convention & Exhibition Center, less than four miles away.
A spokesman for Corcoran Jennison declined to discuss the implications of the impending foreclosure on its development plans. The company in 2007 outlined a plan to tear down Bayside and build hundreds of residences, stores, restaurants, and offices.
A spokeswoman for the Boston Redevelopment Authority said that the firm's development plan is still under review.
The Bayside center is the latest commercial property in Massachusetts to face foreclosure as property owners struggle to pay off debt as rental income from office and retail tenants declines during the economic downturn.
The problem is coming to a head because many of those owners are also unable to refinance loans during the continued freeze on credit. Corcoran Jennison is also facing foreclosure on Glen Ellen Country Club in Millis, an 18-hole golf course where it was planning to build a 55-and-older residential community.
A planned auction of the golf course was halted yesterday as Corcoran Jennison continues to negotiate with its lender, GE Financing, said Justin Manning, who is handling the auction for JJ Manning Auctioneers.
Casey Ross can be reached at cross@globe.com. 