Foreclosure suit hits site of baseball school
(Crain's) — Harris Bank has filed a foreclosure suit to collect more than $8.5 million on a 78,000-square-foot building on the far Northwest Side anchored by Frozen Ropes of Chicago Inc., a baseball training academy.
Built in 2003, the unusual building at 6000 W. Touhy Ave. includes a 30,000-square-foot playing area with high ceilings as well as retail space for tenants, including an Edgebrook Bank branch and physical therapy provider AthletiCo Ltd.
The Frozen Ropes franchise and the building are owned by separate ventures that include businessman Gus Tountas, corporate records show.
The retail space is about 25% vacant, according to real estate data provider CoStar Group Inc.
Mr. Tountas personally failed to pay off two loans totaling $8.3 million when they came due Nov. 15, 2008, according to a complaint Harris filed last month in Cook County Circuit Court. The total amount due is $8.55 million, including past-due interest and late fees, the complaint says.
"We're trying to work it out with them," says attorney Richard M. Varchetto of Elmhurst, who represents Mr. Tountas. If negotiations are unsuccessful, Mr. Tountas intends to fight the foreclosure case, Mr. Varchetto says.
A spokeswoman for Chester, N.Y.-based Frozen Ropes, which is not a defendant in the case, declines to comment. Frozen Ropes of Chicago Inc., a tenant in the building, is also a defendant in the foreclosure case because the company guaranteed both loans, the complaint says.
Unique structures like the Frozen Ropes building pose particular challenges because financial success depends in large measure on the success of the anchor tenant, and replacements can be difficult to find.
Many retail real estate landlords are having a tough time refinancing their properties when they have too much debt, and appraised values are declining because of a shortage of comparable sales, says Al Klairmont, president of Chicago-based Imperial Realty Co., a major landlord on the far Northwest Side and north suburbs that isn't involved in the Frozen Ropes building.
Yet the chances of refinancing the baseball center are increased because of its location on a busy shopping thoroughfare near the Leaning Tower YMCA at 6300 W. Touhy Ave. in Niles, Mr. Klairmont says.
"Owners are hard-pressed when it's not a good location," he says.
Frozen Ropes was founded in 1989 by former college baseball player Tony Abbatine, a hitting coach whose prize pupils include Los Angeles Dodgers slugger Manny Ramirez and New York Mets third baseman David Wright. Mr. Abbatine has also been a player development consultant to several major teams, according to the Web site for the company, which has 30 locations in U.S. and one in Verona, Italy.
Mr. Abbatine's training program focuses on improving a hitter's ability to see the baseball through techniques such as using colored indicators on the ball to prompt seam recognition and encouraging players to look for clues that can effectively predict different pitches, including the pitcher's wrist angle and elbow height.
Frozen Ropes also offers softball instruction.
In filing suit, Harris is seeking to collect on two loans. One loan, issued Sept. 15, 2004, has a balance due of roughly $6.9 million, according to the complaint. The second loan, issued Feb. 9, 2006, has a balance due of more than $1.3 million.
A lawyer with Chicago-based Chapman & Cutler, which represents Harris, declines to comment.
The building is west of the Edens Expressway. Property records show a company owned by Mr. Tountas bought the site in 2003 from Advocate Healthcare, paying $2 million.
