Houston CRE Investor Continues Fight To Prevent Foreclosure On Galleria-Area Office Building
A Galleria-area building remains in limbo amid a yearlong legal tussle between a Houston-based real estate investor and the lender seeking to foreclose on the property.
The former Xerox building at 1001 W. Loop S is the subject of a long battle between Jetall Capital owner Ali Choudhri and Ontario-based lender Romspen that shows few signs of being resolved soon, according to a report from The Real Deal.
Romspen first moved to foreclose on the building in May 2023, alleging that a Choudhri-controlled LLC defaulted on the $18.5M loan it issued in 2019. The LLC filed a temporary restraining order, blocking that foreclosure attempt.
More recently, Romspen scheduled the building to go to a foreclosure auction Feb. 6, but the LLC filed for bankruptcy the same day, preventing a potential sale and foreclosure, TRD reported.
That LLC has also filed a suit alleging Romspen does not hold a valid claim to the property due to multiple errors in deeds, invalidating any attempted foreclosure sale, according to the article.
Choudhri did not respond to The Real Deal’s request for comment.
As the legal wrangling continues, the fate of the eight-story, 255K SF Class-B building remains up in the air. Its tenants include private school Xavier Academy, Champions School of Real Estate and Uptown Fitness.
1001 W. Loop is not the only Galleria-area office building where Choudhri is fending off foreclosure. The National Bank of Kuwait moved multiple times last year to foreclose on 2425 W. Loop S, an 11-story, 283K SF building designed by renowned architect I.M. Pei. The National Bank of Kuwait issued a $60.2M loan on the building in May 2018, according to court documents.
Choudhri sat down with Bisnow last summer, days after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy tied to that building. At that time, Choudhri said the bankruptcy was meant as a reorganization, and negotiations were ongoing with the lender. The National Bank of Kuwait and Romspen did not respond to requests for comment for that story.
Choudhri is also tied up in a fraud and racketeering lawsuit brought by an Austin-based construction lender who claims Choudhri and nine other defendants led a scam resulting in over $15M in damages. The subject of that dispute is 829 Yale St., a five-story condo building in the Houston Heights that is now seeing new life after a long dormancy.
