California real estate investor Koray Ergur has had a decade to initiate some productive activity with respect to the two historically outstanding downtown properties that he owns.
Still, they sit, inert, at Toledo’s best-preserved downtown corner.
A lawsuit filed last week seeks to clarify the status of Mr. Ergur’s ownership of the Spitzer Building and the Nicholas Building on Madison Avenue, which face each other across Huron Street.
Mr. Ergur bought the Nicholas Building in 2008 and the Spitzer Building in 2009.
Since then, both buildings have gone empty. In the meantime, Ergur Private Equity Group has accumulated unpaid debts totaling some $260,000, as detailed in the new court proceedings.
The Lucas County Land Bank, which is owed some of that money, has had enough. The organization filed suit April 26 in Lucas County Common Pleas Court, accusing Ergur Private Equity Group of fraudulently transferring ownership of the Spitzer and Nicholas buildings with no money or consideration, changing hands simply to frustrate creditors.
Locals know the intersection as Four Corners because it is the last intersection in Toledo with legacy buildings still occupying all four corners.
At that same corner is the city-owned Nasby Building, which has been partially stripped of an old facade and which now looms over the corner as an empty building with an ugly metal framework attached.
Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz has responsibility for the Nasby Building, which is under a tentative agreement to be sold to a developer with a record of outstanding downtown redevelopment.
The property transfer is held up awaiting federal approval of transferring an adjoining tract belonging to the Toledo Area Regional Transit Authority, which is expected this summer.
As chairman of the land bank, the mayor now seeks to force some action out of the owner of the other two unoccupied buildings, while the building under his own authority awaits activity.
Both of Mr. Ergur’s buildings are architectural gems and will show beautifully when finally restored to their full glory.
The Nasby Building is possibly the most historic of the four buildings at the corner, but is the most damaged. All four buildings, one of which is occupied, sit in the middle of a city that has experienced a rising demand for apartments.
Toledo has a moral duty to challenge property owners to not squat on buildings that are important to the city’s future. Mr. Ergur has the legal right to do nothing as long as he wants. He doesn’t have the legal right to not pay his bills.
The land bank’s lawsuit will place needed pressure on Mr. Ergur to be a responsible downtown property owner. Meanwhile, Mayor Kapszukiewicz should be seeking prompt action to move the Nasby Building off its own dime.
First Published May 9, 2019, 4:00 a.m.
