VERO BEACH — If the owner of Vero Fashion Outlets mall doesn’t answer a $32.15-million mortgage foreclosure lawsuit by Sept. 16, it could lose the right to defend itself in the case, according to attorneys.

If so, a judge could order the outdoor mall at Interstate 95 and State Road 60 — the first large mall in the county — to be sold.

“We plan to stay open during the foreclosure and after,” said West Palm Beach attorney Kenneth Curtin, who represents the mortgage holder, LNV Corp., of Nevada. “The mall will stay the same as it is now, with tenants.”

Store managers at the outlet mall said Thursday they were surprised by the court case, but shoppers were not surprised, due to the downturn in the economy.

At midday Thursday the outlet mall’s expansive parking lot was largely vacant. “It is a little sparse,” St. Lucie County resident Cora Chaplin said of the number of shoppers. She was looking for jeans for an out-of-town trip.

Marilyn Holloman, of Vero Beach, said the quality of merchandise at the outlet mall is good and store personnel are helpful. but her spending “is only as much as the economy allows.”

The Indian River County Sheriff’s Office has a substation at the outlet mall and sheriff’s spokesman Jeff Luther said his agency was surprised by the lawsuit. He said they didn’t know of any problems.

Bealls Outlet Stores also was surprised, said spokeswoman Bill Webster. He declined comment because his company is named as a defendant in the lawsuit.

LNV Corp. on Aug 26 filed a civil lawsuit in Indian River Circuit Court seeking $32.15 million, including principal and interest, from the owner, Vero Fashion Outlets, of Bay Harbor, Fla., which defaulted on payments, according to the lawsuit. The courts haven’t taken action.

So far, the owners haven’t filed a response to the lawsuit and they have until Sept. 16 to do so.

They didn’t answer phone calls on Wednesday and Thursday.

Vero Fashion Outlets’ local general manager, Susan Belgam, referred questions to the mall’s managing director, Laura Tauber, in Bay Harbor, who couldn’t be reached.

Irwin Tauber, her husband, principal of Vero Fashion Outlets LLC, purchased the mall for $38.2 million in November, 2007.

LNV Corp. took over the mortgage in July from Prudential Mortgage Capital. Co. At the time, Vero Fashion Outlets already was in default on payments, said Curtin. He said he couldn’t say how long the foreclosure lawsuit could take if the owners choose to oppose it.

LNC Corp. plans to ask the courts to appoint a receiver, an outside company, to run the mall while the case is in the courts. LNV Corp. owns and maintains retail and commercial properties, Curtin said. In 2008 it brought some of the assets of a failed bank in Bradenton.

The outdoor outlet mall opened in October 1994, two years before the nearby indoor Indian River Mall.

By Elliott Jones, TCPalm.com

Tags: assets, attorney, bank, beach, court, default, Economy, foreclosure, foreclosures, judge, lawsuit, mall, name, property, retail, roads, sheriff

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