CHARLESTON, S.C. - Three lenders want to foreclose on much of the property the Noisette Company is redeveloping at the old Charleston Naval Base because a $23.7 million loan had not been repaid.
The lenders, Urban Development Fund, Capmark Finance and SPG CDE Subfund, sued last week in Charleston County Court, according to court documents.
The suit asks that the mortgaged property be sold and a receiver be appointed to collect rents and hold them pending the outcome of the case.
The Noisette Company issued a statement Monday saying the foreclosure affects about 240 of the 340 acres it owns.
It's mixed-use Navy Yard project is part of a larger $1 billion public-private effort to revitalize 3,000 acres in the urban core of North Charleston in an environmentally sensitive way.
The mortgage was taken out in 2006 and came due last August. Noisette said it has been unable to refinance.
"As a result of the crisis in the capital markets, it has been extremely difficult for businesses to obtain financing for their development investments," the statement said.
It added the company is continuing to pursue other financing and "believes that can still occur prior to a final disposition of the foreclosure proceeding."
The Noisette project includes the renovation and reuse of storehouses and other old buildings.
Beyond the Navy Yard project a new city waterfront park on the Cooper River was built and there are plans to build a museum to house the H.L. Hunley, the Confederate submarine which was the first in history to sink an enemy warship.
A new port terminal is being built at the south end of the old base.
North Charleston residents recently rallied to oppose any plans linking the new terminal with rail lines from the north end of the base which would bring heavy trains past newly redeveloped areas.
The Charleston Naval Base, the largest domestic base ever closed by the Navy, was shuttered in 1995 with the loss of about 40,000 active duty and civilian personnel. The Noisette project has been under way almost a decade.
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