A foreclosure auction last month on the steps of the Greene County Courthouse might have spelled the end of a rough economic ride for DuWayne and Jackie Eoff, owners of Springfield-based general contracting firm Eoff & Associates Inc.
Recently, the Eoffs lost millions of dollars building three equipment-rental facilities on the cusp of the nation’s worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. On June 28, a major chapter in that story ended when an office building across from Mercy Hospital Springfield, the Volvo Rents facility in Brookline and three adjacent lots in a half-developed business center sold at a trustee’s sale.
Jackie Eoff estimates personal losses at around $5 million from building three Volvo Rents facilities – one each in Brookline, Hollister and Springdale, Ark. – just before the housing bubble burst and the economy nose-dived.
“We couldn’t have predicted the economy was going to do what it was,” said Eoff, managing member of EBE Enterprises LLC, which owned and operated the Volvo Rents businesses. “It’s very emotional. It was a bad investment, but we don’t walk away from our obligations.”
The sell-offAccording to the Greene County recorder’s office, the three foreclosed properties representing original loan values totaling nearly $3.5 million, were sold on the Greene County Courthouse steps – with two picked up by Warren Davis Properties, and the National Avenue Office Park building going back to lender BancorpSouth.
According to county records, BancorpSouth bought the 1911 S. National Ave. building out of foreclosure for more than $2.56 million. The original loan, issued to Derington-Eoff Properties LLC, was for $2.51 million. According to Missouri secretary of state records, DuWayne Eoff organized the company in 2001.
Tenants include Springfield Nephrology Associates Inc., Primerica, Spectrum Accounting, Ozarks Physical Therapy Clinic and Business Solutions LLC. Architect Bill Derington, who was a partner in Derington-Eoff but was bought out years ago, according Jackie Eoff, also leases office space for his architecture firm in the building.
For a combined $1.14 million, Warren Davis Properties picked up the nearly 12,000-square-foot Volvo Rents property in Brookline along with three vacant lots at the James River Business Center near James River Freeway and Highway MM.
Founder Warren Davis said the 11,650-square-foot equipment rental facility constructed in 2007 was attractive because it came with a long-term lease.
He paid $920,000 for the property, which held an original loan value of $1.44 million. Recorder Cheryl Dawson said county records do not indicate how much was owed on the loans.
“It was nothing great, but it was a reasonable deal,” said Davis, a property manager and developer known for taking chances on properties.
Davis purchased the three vacant commercial-zoned lots for $224,016. He said the lots have sewer, water and gas connections, but he has no plans to build on them.
“It is just available for purchase, if somebody wants to build out there,” Davis said. “It’s a good area. It’s an upcoming area. You’ve got Carnahan-Fence out there and Hermann Lumber. That whole area is coming along pretty well.”
Hammit-Eoff Properties LLC owned the lots within a mile of Carnahan-White Inc. fence company, which is owned by Stacey Hammit.
Financial restructuringJackie Eoff said the foreclosures were a result of money lost from the 2010 sale of their franchise back to Volvo Rents amid a sluggish economic climate. She said the couple held on to the properties in Brookline and Springdale, Ark., until December 2012, when the weight of their $3 million note was too much to bear. The couple began to work with lender BancorpSouth to pay down more than $2 million of the debt.
“We never missed a payment,” she said, but pointed to equipment depreciating at a pace of $250,000 a month.
In negotiating with the bank, the Eoffs used the National Avenue building as collateral when the bank became concerned about the sinking equipment values. Eoff said she believed the bank satisfied the rest of its liability through the June 28 sales.
“It wasn’t hostile at all. We sat down and looked at different scenarios, and this was what we felt was fairest to both sides,” she said.
Randy Burchfield, BancorpSouth senior vice president of corporate communications, declined to comment on the Eoffs’ foreclosures, citing company policy. He said it’s common for bank staff to work with clients facing financial challenges.
“We are pleased to work with our customers who are experiencing a financial difficulty to the extent possible, but no two situations are typically the same. Each has its own specific conditions and circumstances and must be approached in various ways from both the client and bank’s standpoint,” Burchfield said.
Eoff said the couple still owns several properties with Hammit in Arkansas. Calls to Hammit were not returned by press time.
The Eoffs are currently trying to sell their Volvo Rents property in Springdale, Ark.
In June, according to Associated Builders and Contractors Inc., the nation’s construction industry unemployment rate dipped below 10 percent for the first time since September 2007. With the construction climate improving, Eoff said she and her husband would try to focus on the construction business. Eoff & Associates is the contractor behind several notable projects in recent years including Springfield First Community Bank on South Glenstone Avenue, Famous Dave’s Legendary Pit Bar-B-Que on South Campbell Avenue and the 43,000-square-foot One Park Centre shopping center it developed at the corner of Kansas Expressway and West Sunshine Street.
“Maybe, it was the healthiest thing that could happen,” Jackie Eoff said of the trustee’s sales.
“It’s like a body with cancer. Now, we’ve severed the cancer, so the rest of the body can be healthy.”
