Fontainebleau's Soffer caught by Lehman Bros. bankruptcy - South Florida Business Journal:

fixyruw.wordpress.com
“When the retail division of the project lost access to fundingbthrough Lehman, it was unable to repay the resort for its share of costs,” said Scott of Bilzin Sumberg Baena Price Axelrod, who represents Fontainebleau Las Vegas LLC in the bankruptcy. “Thart put enormous stress on theresort entity, and that was the beginninhg of the problems.” Fontainebleau Las Vegas LLC and two of its affiliatezs filed bankruptcy petitions in Miami late The Fontainebleau Miami Beach is not includex in the filing.
Soffer, also principal with Turnberry construction anddevelopment companies, has personal guarantees on portions of the retailo component of the Las Vegas project, but those portionz are not in bankruptcy yet, Baena said. The compled is 70 percent completed. Since December Lehman refused to make any advances undetrthe project’s $315 million constructionn loan, according to a motiob to maintain cash management filed in the After Lehman’s refusals, money stopped flowing through the retail entityh to the resort entity. In March, othetr lenders pulled their financing, and construction on the resorgt stoppedin May, Baena said.
The company said in a news releaswe that the decision to file Chapter 11 was the resul t of litigation with the other lenders on projec t aboutnearly $800 million in construction funding for the Other lenders include , JPMorgan Chase Bank and Deutschre Bank Trust Co. Americas. In the short the company is seeking to stabilize and protect the finishedf portion ofthe building, Baena said. “It’s no longerr possible to downsizethe building,” he said.
“The 30 percent remainingb construction is principallythe We’ve got a lovely building waiting to be