“Mountaineers are always free,” goes West Virginia’s state motto. But a sitting US Senator in default on his debt is learning that CRE law begs to differ.

TRT Holdings, the holdco. of billionaire father-son duo Robert & Blake Rowling, bought the 1st lien on the interests of Jim Justice (R-WV) for $290M from long-suffering regional bank Carter. The crown jewel of the assets secured by that debt is the Greenbrier, an 11K acre luxe resort with serious ⛳ pedigree and a hotel that has played host to at least 28 presidents. Justice, the scion of a coal fortune, has owned the Greenbrier since ‘09, after previous owner CSX 🛤 ran it into bankruptcy – Justice notably pipped Marriott to the post. But Justice has since fallen into a serious financial hole, w/ Forbes reporting last year that he could be staring down $1B+ in debts & liabilities. The Rowlings’ March transaction w/ Carter (the bank had granted 14 forbearances to Justice over the years) put them in a position to squeeze Justice and potentially foreclose on the Greenbrier, which they’d likely operate under their Omni Hotels and Resorts flag. 👇

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“I don’t foresee a partnership coming together after the way the first meeting went,” Blake Rowling told the Dallas Morning News of his initial encounter w/ the Justices. “If we get paid off, we’re no longer a lender, which is fine. But at this point, they’re in breach of the forbearance agreement. We’re moving forward with the rights we have.”

The Rowlings asked a federal court to seize the resort from the Justices and place it in receivership. In response, the Justices filed a suit in state court, alleging the Rowlings are trying to take the Greenbrier by “unlawful and deceptive means.” Justice alleges that Carter first agreed to a $300M payoff, but then upped the amount at the 11th hour, and that the Rowlings reneged on a JV deal. In new filings 5/1, the Rowlings allege that the Justices have defaulted on $141M+ in debt, misappropriated revenue, and let the property fall into disrepair.

This is quite the bear to poke. Not only is Justice a sitting US Senator, he was governor of the state from ‘17-25, which means he has unlimited juice. Will his political might be enough to overcome the laws of the capstack? 🐻

It took us a bit to get the quality and vibe just right, but chuffed to announce that The Promote’s swag is now up for grabs. Show your love for what we’re building, or do it just to make fellow CRE junkies jealous. Items include

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The 24/6 hat: For the dealmaker who only stops when divinely ordained.

Margaret Anadu, one of the most high-profile Black professionals in CRE, is out at the Vistria Group. Anadu co-founded Vistria’s CRE arm in ‘22/23, and by last fall had $3.4B AUM with backing from the likes of Steve Ballmer, Ingka Investments (Ikea guys) and the Ford Foundation. She appears to have made a quiet exit; she’s off the website and her LI notes her tenure ended last month, but there was no announcement or news stories, unusual for an exec who’s usually all over the press.

Anadu rose through the ranks at Goldman, where she went on to run the Urban Investment Group, the firm’s impact investing arm – Alicia Glen, former NYC deputy mayor and now principal at developer MSquared, once had that seat. At Vistria, Anadu’s team amassed more than 7K units by last year, mostly affordable housing. A key focus was welfare-tax exemption deals, in which properties can score a partial/full exemption on real estate taxes in exchange for a commitment to keep units affordable. But just like Texas’ Traveling HFC deals, there are Qs looming about whether the AMI-restricted rents are actually below the market rents. (If they’re not, you’re essentially getting the tax break for bupkis 🤌 )

SF has been the country’s most fascinating market to track wrt rent-stabilized Monopoly, w/ portfolios going from player to lender to next player and back. Among the biggest casualties was Yat Pang-Au’s Veritas, as well as Ballast Investments (Ryan Brewer, Greg MacDonald), which took control of much of the Veritas (OG Lembi portfolio) package w/ Brookfield’s backing, even as it was in the midst of defaulting on RBC debt backing another major portfolio.

Last summer, DB began shopping an NPL portfolio backed by 23 (mostly in the Tenderloin) fmr. Ballast properties via Eastdil. The buyer on that NPL portfolio was Fortress, per sources, which has started to dispose of the Tenderloin assets piecemeal.

And RBC recently put the biggest piece of the Ballast distressed portfolio – a nearly 1K unit package – back on the market, per materials reviewed by The Promote. The action around it is a great lens into where the market’s at. Promote Insiders: Read on for the full story at the end of this newsletter 🔒 👇