The Symes building at 820 16th St., also known as The George, on Sept. 22, 2025. (Thomas Gounley/BusinessDen)
The owner of an office building along the 16th Street Mall being eyed for a conversion to apartments with the help of Downtown Development Authority dollars is suing its lender.
Massandra Harbor George Owner LLC, which owns the Symes building at 820 16th St. in Denver, sometimes also referred to as The George, filed a lawsuit earlier this month against an affiliate of Los Angeles-based Thorofare Capital.
Thorofare lent the ownership entity, which is affiliated with California-based Harbor Associates, $18.6 million in April 2022.
Three men — Derek Chen, Jerome Fink and David Kim, founders of private equity firm The Bascom Group — were guarantors on the loan. But according to Massandra Harbor, their agreement with Thorofare didn’t extend to the loan’s principal balance. Instead, the men agreed to secure payment of interest on the loan, plus property carrying costs such as taxes, insurance and maintenance expenses.
Massandra Harbor never missed a monthly payment and, when the loan came due at the end of this past June, the building “was in better condition than when the Loan was made,” the lawsuit states.
But Massandra Harbor did not have the funds to pay it off.
“Due to market conditions beyond any party’s control, the market value of the Property substantially declined during the term of the Loan,” the lawsuit states.
Ahead of the June 30 maturity date, Massandra Harbor listed the building for sale through CBRE “in a good faith effort to obtain the highest value,” according to the lawsuit. Eight offers came in, ranging from $2.3 million to $5 million.
Massandra Harbor presented them to Thorofare, according to the lawsuit, but the lender “refused to respond to these offers or provide any guidance on how Lender would like to deal with the Property upon maturity.”
Massandra Harbor also offered to give the building to Thorofare via a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure, but the lender didn’t accept the offer, according to the lawsuit.
In mid-July, about two weeks after the loan matured with $11.4 million in principal remaining, Thorofare informed Massandra Harbor and the guarantors that the loan was in default and that they needed to pay $97,500 in unpaid interest and $323,500 in property taxes, according to the lawsuit.
Massandra Harbor says it paid those amounts. But its lawsuit says Thorofare’s notice of default “made a continuing demand on Guarantors and Borrower to pay its Interest and Carry Costs obligation indefinitely, despite the fact that the Loan is a non-recourse loan.”
Massandra Harbor is asking the court to rule that it is not obligated to pay any additional amounts.
Thorofare General Counsel Robert Cooper declined to comment.
Harbor Associates first became involved with the Symes building in 2018, when a different entity affiliated with it — 820 16th Street Property LLC — bought the structure for $24.5 million. The building transferred to Massandra Harbor George Owner LLC in June 2022 in a $17.2 million transaction.
Reached by BusinessDen last week, Harbor executive Joon Choi declined to elaborate on the difference between the LLCs, or how the dispute with Thorofare could affect plans to convert the building to apartments.
That project, which would see 116 residential units fashioned out of the building, is slated to get a $17 million loan from Denver’s Downtown Development Authority, although City Council still needs to sign off.
It is one of two office conversion projects at the same intersection poised to get DDA money.
Three blocks away, the new owner of the office buildings at 621 and 633 17th St. also hopes to turn them into apartments with the help of the DDA. But Asher Luzzatto said last week that project is stalled over a ground lease dispute with the owner of Lakeside Amusement Park.
The Symes building at 820 16th St., also known as The George, on Sept. 22, 2025. (Thomas Gounley/BusinessDen)
The owner of an office building along the 16th Street Mall being eyed for a conversion to apartments with the help of Downtown Development Authority dollars is suing its lender.
Massandra Harbor George Owner LLC, which owns the Symes building at 820 16th St. in Denver, sometimes also referred to as The George, filed a lawsuit earlier this month against an affiliate of Los Angeles-based Thorofare Capital.
Thorofare lent the ownership entity, which is affiliated with California-based Harbor Associates, $18.6 million in April 2022.
Three men — Derek Chen, Jerome Fink and David Kim, founders of private equity firm The Bascom Group — were guarantors on the loan. But according to Massandra Harbor, their agreement with Thorofare didn’t extend to the loan’s principal balance. Instead, the men agreed to secure payment of interest on the loan, plus property carrying costs such as taxes, insurance and maintenance expenses.
Massandra Harbor never missed a monthly payment and, when the loan came due at the end of this past June, the building “was in better condition than when the Loan was made,” the lawsuit states.
But Massandra Harbor did not have the funds to pay it off.
“Due to market conditions beyond any party’s control, the market value of the Property substantially declined during the term of the Loan,” the lawsuit states.
Ahead of the June 30 maturity date, Massandra Harbor listed the building for sale through CBRE “in a good faith effort to obtain the highest value,” according to the lawsuit. Eight offers came in, ranging from $2.3 million to $5 million.
Massandra Harbor presented them to Thorofare, according to the lawsuit, but the lender “refused to respond to these offers or provide any guidance on how Lender would like to deal with the Property upon maturity.”
Massandra Harbor also offered to give the building to Thorofare via a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure, but the lender didn’t accept the offer, according to the lawsuit.
In mid-July, about two weeks after the loan matured with $11.4 million in principal remaining, Thorofare informed Massandra Harbor and the guarantors that the loan was in default and that they needed to pay $97,500 in unpaid interest and $323,500 in property taxes, according to the lawsuit.
Massandra Harbor says it paid those amounts. But its lawsuit says Thorofare’s notice of default “made a continuing demand on Guarantors and Borrower to pay its Interest and Carry Costs obligation indefinitely, despite the fact that the Loan is a non-recourse loan.”
Massandra Harbor is asking the court to rule that it is not obligated to pay any additional amounts.
Thorofare General Counsel Robert Cooper declined to comment.
Harbor Associates first became involved with the Symes building in 2018, when a different entity affiliated with it — 820 16th Street Property LLC — bought the structure for $24.5 million. The building transferred to Massandra Harbor George Owner LLC in June 2022 in a $17.2 million transaction.
Reached by BusinessDen last week, Harbor executive Joon Choi declined to elaborate on the difference between the LLCs, or how the dispute with Thorofare could affect plans to convert the building to apartments.
That project, which would see 116 residential units fashioned out of the building, is slated to get a $17 million loan from Denver’s Downtown Development Authority, although City Council still needs to sign off.
It is one of two office conversion projects at the same intersection poised to get DDA money.
Three blocks away, the new owner of the office buildings at 621 and 633 17th St. also hopes to turn them into apartments with the help of the DDA. But Asher Luzzatto said last week that project is stalled over a ground lease dispute with the owner of Lakeside Amusement Park.
