LOS ANGELES -- A California court has awarded a judgment in favor of Sacramento in connection with a foreclosure action over property in the Bell Avenue Assessment District, the city said in a press release this week.
Sacramento initiated the judicial foreclosure proceedings after the major property owner in the district, I-80 Industrial Associates, became delinquent on assessment payments in April 1992. Those assessments help secure $3.57 million of limited obligation bonds that the city issued on behalf of the Bell Avenue district in June 1990.
Delinquent assessments in the district total almost $402,000, covering the April 1992 installment and other payments due in December 1992 and April 1993.
On Friday, the Sacramento County Superior Court ruled in the city's favor in the foreclosure action.
In its release, the city said it will now "initiate the execution of the judgment, a process which takes approximately six months."
During this six-month period, the city noted that a sale of the property can be avoided if property owners cover the judgment on the delinquencies. Otherwise, a foreclosure sale will take place.
The city estimated, however, that "at least six months will elapse," and possibly longer, before that sale could occur. "Moreover, it is possible that there will be no bids received from interested buyers at the sale," the city's release says.
A reserve account that began with $312,000 has been almost fully drained to pay previous debt service on the bonds. In an Oct. 29 press release, Sacramento Treasurer Thomas Friery said that the March 2, 1994, payment to bondholders could be short by about $53,000 "based on recent collection experience."
Friery previously said he could not promise that delinquent assessment payments would be brought up to date, or that future installments would be paid.
