Two major shopping centers in Keene, N.H., are scheduled for sale at foreclosure auctions in January, according to ads taken out by an auction company.
The centers, Riverside Plaza and Key Road Plaza, house some of the city's largest retail establishments — Walmart in the former, Staples and T.J.Maxx in the latter — and together account for nearly $29 million in property value.
The properties are being sold due to "breach of the conditions of the mortgage," according to notices posted on the website of the auction company, James R. St. Jean Auctioneers.
The notices do not give further details about what that breach is. But according to county records, a company specializing in distressed debt took on both properties' mortgages in September.
The mortgages date to 2007. That year, DLC Management Corp., a New York-based owner and operator of shopping centers, bought the Riverside and Key Road plazas for $25.9 million and $15.3 million, respectively, according to city property records.
The same year, it took out a mortgage on each property with Wachovia Bank, according county records. The two mortgages totaled about $34 million.
Wells Fargo assumed the mortgages when the bank acquired Wachovia in 2008, then transferred them to U.S. Bank in 2009, county records show.
Then, last September, according to county records, Torchlight Loan Services acquired the mortgages. An arm of Torchlight Investors, based in New York City, Torchlight Loan Services manages resolutions of "delinquencies and underperforming loans," according to its website.
St. Jean Auctioneers advertised the sales in Thursday's Sentinel and lists both properties on its website. The auctions are scheduled for Jan. 19.
Officials with DLC Management Corp., St. Jean Auctioneers and Torchlight Loan Services were not immediately available for comment, nor was an attorney listed in ads as representing the mortgage holder.
