Stone Oak shopping center shutting down

[m22]

When is Clothesline Cleaners on Stone Oak Parkway closing?

[stoneoak]

An article about SO Crossing is posted at www.stoneoakinfo.com.

[dbrune]

There is absolutely no truth in the rumor that Stone Oak Crossing II is shutting down and/or telling tenants to move. We want all tenants to stay and will do our very best to make the shopping center one that they'll be proud of.

As one of the owners of the shopping center, we have been in the unfortunate position of having to wait while our old asset manager's bankruptcy went through its process. Now, with that complete, we have hired a new asset manager, Thompson National Properties, considered the best in the industry. They were hired less than two weeks ago and are committed to using their expertise to make this property the beautiful shopping experience that it once was. They will work closely with the local property manager to address the concerns of the tenants and make our center an attractive place to shop.

[dbrune]

The rumor that tenants will have to move out of Stone Oak Crossing II is completely false. I am one of the owners. For nearly five months we have had to wait while our master lessee and asset manager went through the bankruptcy process. We were prevented from doing anything on our own to assist in managing the property.

Now the bankruptcy process is over and we have hired the best firm in the country, Thompson National Properties, to manage our shopping center. They have only been on the job less than two weeks, but you will begin to see changes soon. We encourage all of our tenants to stay with us, as we know they will once again be proud of this shopping center.

Thanks for bearing with us during this difficult time.

[dbrune]

As an owner of Stone Oak Crossing II, I'm very sorry that our tenants have had to suffer the uncertainties of having an asset manager/master tenant in bankruptcy. The procedures required by the Delaware bankruptcy court put a "stay" in place, forbidding anyone - property manager or owners - from doing anything on the property, thus the conditions you've witnessed over the last few months. Everything was directed by the judge and it was completely out of our control.

I feel that more background is needed to explain the plight that the owners of Stone Oak Crossing II have endured for nearly five months. The "investors" that are mentioned in a recent news article are actually "tenant-in-common" or "TIC" owners that own varying percentages of the property. Stone Oak Crossing II has 21 separate TIC owners who each own between 2.5% and 10% of the property.

We are a collection of retirees and those nearing retirement who hoped that by buying a portion of a DBSI property, that we would have a steady income during our retirement years. DBSI held a master lease over our entire property - the tenants paid their rent to DBSI and DBSI distributed our share (of whatever was left after expenses) to us as owners. After September 5, 2008, those distributions stopped. It's still not clear if we'll ever see our back distributions, or the legal expenses we had to pay to protect ourselves, or the money we had to provide from your rent to pay for DBSI's attorneys.

Please allow us to prove to you that Stone Oak Crossing II can be brought back to its former glory. Thompson National Properties is the new asset manager who will begin working immediately to improve our shopping center. We are committed to doing what's right and showing our tenants how important they are to us. Thank you.

Dan Brune
831-818-5950
dlbrune@gmail.com