By Celeste M. Hammond and Virginia M. Harding
Receiverships have been around for a long time but until recently have not received much attention. Except for those regularly dealing with distressed properties, real estate attorneys did not think about receiverships. The recent publicity about the battle to have a receiver appointed to take control of Block 37 — the redevelopment project in downtown Chicago which was finally nearing completion — reminded many about this heretofore ignored device.
On Oct. 20, 2009 Bank of America filed a foreclosure action against Block 37 claiming that its developer, Joseph Freed & Associates had defaulted on the loan, had high cost overruns and had run out of money to complete the project. The developer denied the bank’s allegations.