The foreclosure auction of Regency Square Mall scheduled for Thursday to settle a $162,873 lien will not proceed pending an appeal.
At a hearing Tuesday before 4th Circuit Judge Kevin Blazs, attorneys representing Regency Square Mall and JAAMM Inc., the company awarded the lien, agreed that the mall will pay a $175,000 bond while the appeal of the judgment advances to the 1st District Court of Appeal.
Attorney Adam Owens represented the mall owners, Regency Mall Realty LLC, Regency CH LLC and Regency Nassim LLC, subsidiaries of mall owners Namdar Realty Group LLC and Mason Asset Management.
At the hearing, Owens said selling the mall would do his clients irreparable harm because the mall is valued at $20 million and the judgment is for only a small portion of that.
JAAMM’s attorney, Michael Duncan, cited the deteriorating condition of the shopping center, other litigation, municipal code violations and unpaid property taxes hurting the value of the mall if the sale is delayed.
During a brief recess, the attorneys reached an agreement where the mall owners would pay a $175,000 bond to protect JAAMM from any decline in the mall’s value as the litigation continues.
In February, Blazs signed an amended final judgment of foreclosure against the property owners and in favor of JAAMM and the mall owners appealed.
JAAMM is a nonprofit company that operated the Jacksonville Automotive & Motorcycle Museum in the former Montgomery Ward store in the mall in 2016 and 2017.
At issue is more than $135,000 of work in the space JAAMM leased to repair the roof and electrical system and filing a mechanic’s lien when the mall owners refused to reimburse the repair cost, plus attorney fees and costs.