Midsouth Bank filed a complaint for forfeiture Friday accusing the owners of Arkansas Convention Center of failing to make regular payments on $10 million in debt.
Arkansas Convention Center, located in Texarkana, Ark., is owned by Texarkana Hotels, LLC, Hiren Patel and his wife, Nila Patel. All are named as defendants in the suit pending in Miller County.
Two loans, one for $2.5 million and a second for $7.5 million were secured by Texarkana Hotels and the Patels in February 2012 for the construction of Arkansas Convention Center. According to the complaint, Midsouth, formerly Peoples State Bank, sent notices concerning the defaults to the defendants in June.
When the defendants failed to cure the default “within the time and manner required by the June 24, 2015 letters,” Midsouth went forward with an acceleration of the loans. The June letters indicate payments were more than $36,000 delinquent on the smaller loan and more than $80,000 in arrears on the larger one, at that time.
Midsouth claims it sent the defendants notices Oct. 15 that the entire loan balances are now due because of default. According to the complaint, Texarkana Hotels and the Patels owed $2,480,041.64 on one loan and $7,411,431.82 on the second as of Oct. 15. In addition to those amounts, Midsouth is asking for a judgment against the defendants for interest from Oct. 15 to the time of the judgment and for attorney fees and court costs.
Midsouth is asking that it be allowed to sell Arkansas Convention Center to recoup the money it loaned Texarkana Hotels and the Patels to build Arkansas Convention Center, attorney fees and costs.
The case has been assigned to Miller County Circuit Judge Carlton Jones.
