Germantown rowhouses 4th & Monroe bought back by Cadence Bank

Nashville Business Journal - by Eric Snyder Staff Writer


A luxury rowhouse project in Germantown, 4th and Monroe, has been bought back by its lender.

According to Davidson County Register of Deeds documents, Starkville, Miss.-based Cadence Bank N.A. purchased 4th and Monroe’s 39 units, and 1.64 acres of land on which they sit, from Traditional Urban Concepts Inc. on Dec. 31. The transfer, valued at $4.25 million, was recorded on Jan. 12.

The Special Warranty Deed represents “the partial release and discharge of certain debts, obligations and charges …” stemming from a $9 million loan Cadence Bank made to Traditional Urban Concepts. That Deed of Trust was executed in late April 2007. A review of Davidson County property appraisals indicates no units, on which construction began in 2007, have sold.

Attempts to reach Joey Smith, president of Traditional Urban Concepts, have been unsuccessful.

The transfer comes as Cadence Bank, which has offices in Brentwood and Franklin, is weathering its own financial turmoil.

Cadence Financial Corporation, whose principal subsidiary is Cadence Bank N.A., reported a net loss of $13.1 million after the third quarter.

Two members of its board of directors, which recently voted to suspend all director compensation, have recently resigned. One such member, Jimmy Graham, believed the bank’s best option was to sell itself off.

“Now that we know a sale is not going to happen anytime soon, I believe it right and appropriate that I vacate my seat,” he wrote in a letter to the board, made public in an SEC filing. He apologized for leaving “at such a dark hour.”