In re Geneva Anhx IV LLC

496 B.R. 888, 2013 WL 3877788, 2013 Bankr. LEXIS 3006
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, C.D. Illinois
DecidedJuly 26, 2013
DocketNo. 12-82750
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 496 B.R. 888 (In re Geneva Anhx IV LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, C.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Geneva Anhx IV LLC, 496 B.R. 888, 2013 WL 3877788, 2013 Bankr. LEXIS 3006 (Ill. 2013).

Opinion

OPINION

THOMAS L. PERKINS, Bankruptcy Judge.

This matter is before the Court on the Amended Motion of AnchorBank, FSB (ANCHORBANK), for relief from the automatic stay or, in the alternative, to dismiss the case. For the following reasons, the Amended Motion will be granted to modify the automatic stay to allow the state court foreclosure action to proceed.

[893]*893 FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Thirteen (13) related chapter 11 cases were commenced on December 26, 2012. Joint administration was ordered, but the estates have not been substantively consolidated. ANCHORBANK’S Amended Motion, filed in the lead case, Case No. 12-82750, seeks identical relief as to each Debtor.

Each Debtor is a limited liability company formed as a special purpose single investment entity to participate in ownership of a senior citizen residential facility (Park Vista) located in East Moline, Rock Island County, Illinois. Each Debtor owns a fractional interest in the real estate as a Tenant-in-Common (TIC) with the other owners. Ownership is divided among thirty-three (33) TIC owners. The thirteen (13) Debtors own a combined 29.22452% interest. The remaining 70.77548% is owned by twenty (20) LLC’s that are not debtors in bankruptcy. The Debtors admit that the investment was structured so that the real estate would be owned in fractional shares by TIC owners in order to qualify for the tax deferral benefit accorded to like-kind exchanges under section 1031 of the Internal Revenue Code.

The real estate is encumbered with a mortgage granted to ANCHORBANK to secure repayment of a loan to Geneva Exchange Fund XV, LLC (GEF), evidenced by a Mortgage Note dated April 22, 2005, in the principal amount of $18,800,000.00. By its terms, the Mortgage Note was to mature on April 1, 2007. ANCHORBANK agreed to extend the maturity date on several occasions, with the last extension being to July 1, 2010. GEF also executed an Assignment of Leases and Rents in favor of ANCHORBANK. The Mortgage and the Assignment were duly recorded in the office of recorder of deeds for Rock Island County on April 29, 2005. When the Mortgage Note came due on July 1, 2010, it was not paid. Neither was it refinanced or extended by ANCHOR-BANK. Nor were the TIC owners able to obtain a take-out loan to substitute a new lender for ANCHORBANK.

ANCHORBANK filed a complaint for foreclosure in the Rock Island County Circuit Court on February 16, 2011. All thirty-three (33) TIC owners were named as defendants and the state court determined that they were properly served with process. On May 7, 2012, the circuit court entered an order granting partial summary judgment as to Count I of AN-CHORBANK’S complaint, against certain defendants who failed to plead in opposition to summary judgment. All of the Debtors were included among the defendants against whom judgment was entered. The May 7, 2012, order provides that the “Defendants’ interests in and liens on the mortgaged real estate are hereby terminated.”

On September 10, 2012, the state court entered an order appointing ANCHOR-BANK as mortgagee in possession, vesting ANCHORBANK with exclusive possession of the real property, and granting it all the powers of a receiver to operate, manage and protect the property. The order further provided that defendants are stayed from interfering with ANCHORBANK’S exercise of possession, control and management of the property.

The state court also entered a judgment of foreclosure on September 10, 2012, determining, among other things, that the balance of principal and interest due on the Mortgage Note as of July 17, 2012, was $20,225,166.58 with interest continuing to accrue at the rate of $2,872.22 per day, and ordering the property to be sold at foreclosure sale on a date to be determined. The bankruptcy cases were filed before the foreclosure sale was to be held.

[894]*894The Debtors readily acknowledge that the ownership of the Park Vista real estate was divided into fractional interests with title taken as tenants-in-common for the purpose of qualifying for like-kind exchange treatment under Internal Revenue Code section 1031. While the sale or exchange of property is ordinarily a taxable event, 26 U.S.C. § 1001(c), Internal Revenue Code section 1081 provides an exception:

No gain or loss shall be recognized on the exchange of property held for

productive use in a trade or business or for investment if such property is exchanged solely for property of like kind which is to be held either for productive use in a trade or business or for investment.

26 U.S.C. § 1031(a)(1).

The nonrecognition of gain or loss from a like-kind exchange does not apply to an exchange of partnership interests. 26 U.S.C. § 1031(a)(2)(D). Although taxpayers cannot use a partnership interest as either relinquished property or replacement property in a like-kind exchange, this restriction may be avoided by structuring property ownership as a tenancy-in-eom-mon. 3 Mertens Law of Federal Income Taxation § 20B:18. Taxpayers must adhere to the tenancy-in-eommon structure and must not operate like a partnership. Id.

On March 19, 2002, the IRS released Revenue Procedure 2002-22, promulgating a new policy to issue advance rulings or determination letters on the questions of whether an undivided fractional interest in real property is an interest in an entity that is not eligible for a tax deferred exchange under § 1031(a)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code and whether such arrangements constitute separate entities for federal tax purposes under § 7701. Rev. Proc. 2002-22, 2002-14 I.R.B. 733, 2002-1 C.B. 733, 2002 WL 417295 (IRS RPR). While Rev. Proc. 2002-22 outlines procedural requirements for obtaining a letter ruling, and is not a pronouncement of substantive law, it does set forth fifteen guidelines so that taxpayers who adhere to the necessary conditions may obtain private letter rulings to assure them that their tenancy-in-common interest would not be considered partnership interests ineligible for like-kind exchange treatment. Mer-tens § 20B:18.

The guidelines include the requirement that each co-owner hold title as a tenant-in-common, the limitation that there may be no more than 35 co-owners, and the co-owners may not file a joint tax return, conduct business under a common name, or hold themselves out as a business entity. The co-owners must unanimously approve major decisions, including hiring a property manager and selling, leasing or mortgaging the property. Each co-owner must have the unilateral right to transfer, partition or encumber his undivided interest in the property, but he may agree to a right of first refusal and other buy-sell procedures based on fair market value purchase options. The co-owners’ activities must be limited to those customarily performed in connection with the maintenance and repair of rental real property.

In or about September, 2005, the thirty-three (33) TIC owners made an agreement among themselves entitled “Co-Tenancy Ownership Covenants.” The Covenants track and incorporate the guidelines set forth in Rev. Proc. 2002-22. The Covenants include the following provision:

12.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
496 B.R. 888, 2013 WL 3877788, 2013 Bankr. LEXIS 3006, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-geneva-anhx-iv-llc-ilcb-2013.