The Carew Tower, one of Downtown's most iconic buildings, is facing foreclosure and more than $642,000 in delinquent utility bills just over a year after the building was put up for sale.
Lender Veles Partners LLC filed a foreclosure lawsuit against the building's owner, Greg Power, on Oct. 15 for defaulting on the mortgage, according to Hamilton County Common Pleas Court records.
Veles claims Power owed $9,664,656 in principal on the loan, about $93,630 in interest and $3,594 in late fees as of Oct. 5.
Power — a Downtown-based commercial real estate investor who owns the Carew Tower and the connected 561-room Hilton Cincinnati Netherland Plaza Hotel — was served a summons on Nov. 2.
Neither Power nor the Downtown-based attorneys representing Veles could be reached for comment Friday.
In addition to the foreclosure filing, the city of Cincinnati is seeking to collect $642,059 in unpaid charges for sewer services provided for the building, according to the Metropolitan Sewer District of Greater Cincinnati. No payments have been made on the account since Nov. 6, 2020, according to the sewer district.
From our archives:Carew Tower: Big changes loom for historic Downtown landmark, once a symbol of Cincinnati's 'exuberance'
It's not the first time Power has faced scrutiny for not paying the bills on the property.
The 91-year-old Carew Tower's latest troubles come after an effort to sell the building. Power began seeking bids for the retail and office building in July 2020.
At the time, the assessed value of the office section of the tower from the third floor up was about $18.4 million, according to Hamilton County Auditor Dusty Rhodes. The retail portion was valued at about $9.7 million, he said.
The entire Carew Tower complex includes the Hilton and the 49-story tower with about 400,000 square feet of space and 110,000 square feet of retail space in the Carew Tower Arcade on the basement, first and second floors.
Once the tallest building west of the Alleghenies, workers began construction of the 49-story Carew Tower just before the Great Depression and completed it in 1930 at a cost of more than $30 million.
In 2010, Carew Tower was displaced as the city's tallest building by Great American Tower at Queen City Square, which has eight fewer floors but is 86 feet taller than the 574-foot Carew Tower, thanks to its spire.
In addition to losing its place as the tallest building in Cincinnati, Carew Tower has also lost several large tenants in recent years, including Frisch's Big Boy.
Through the first three months of 2019, almost half of the building's retail and office space was vacant and available for rent, according to figures provided by Colliers International real estate services firm in Cincinnati.
A Colliers official said the firm has struggled to obtain current vacancy numbers for Carew Tower.
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