Bastrop, Tx–Lakeside Hospital, an investor owned venture, is being threatened with foreclosure by a major lender, but investors said today the move by Stillwater National Bank and Trust is designed to pressure them and a potential buyer to close a deal soon.
Stillwater has posted notice at the Bastrop County Courthouse that it could auction the property on the courthouse steps as early as July 7, citing the city’s only hospital as collateral for roughly $10 million in loans since early 2005.
Investor Gary Schiff said talks with a potential buyer have been ongoing for almost a year now, and the lender is threatening foreclosure as a way to force negotiations to a close. “We’re diligently trying to get it done,” he said in a telephone interview Tuesday. “We’re down to the last details, but it’s a complex deal,” in part because of the number of parties involved, he added. “There’s a lot of last minute legal maneuvering.”
Schiff did not identify the potential buyer.