THE SAGA OF the still undeveloped Spire in Chicago rumbles on, with very little good news on the horizon for developer Garrett Kelleher of Shelbourne Developments.
Bank of America is currently suing Shelbourne over an unpaid balance of $110,076 on credit cards that the bank cancelled last autumn.
The Dublin-based developer took out the business and commercial credit cards in 2006 and 2007 from Bank of America, which was a lender to the Spire. At some point before early June last year, BofA notified Shelbourne that it was going to cancel the credit cards due to non-payment, according to filings in the US District Court in Chicago.
BofA terminated the cards in August 2009 and demanded full payment of the balance by September 30th, the bank says in its lawsuit.
The allegation was added last week to another BofA suit filed in August seeking to collect $4.9 million from Shelbourne on two unpaid loans used to pay preliminary expenses for the proposed 150-storey Spire.
Meanwhile, back in Dublin Shelbourne has taken back ownership of the big Costa coffee shop on the corner of Dawson Street and Molesworth Street. The franchisee is understood to have been paying a rent of €150,000 as well 12 per cent of turnover for the space. The four years and nine-month lease has a break option around now, and Costa has cleared out leaving yet another blank space in the retail scene.
