Mere hours before the Victor Town Board was set to hold a public hearing on the future of five parcels at Eastview Mall, the mall’s lenders opened a new front in the dispute, moving forward with foreclosure and accusing the proposed eminent domain plan of being a “debt evasion scheme”.
U.S. Bank National Association and Wells Fargo Bank, as trustees for the trusts holding Eastview Mall's original $210 million mortgage loan, filed a foreclosure action Sept. 8 after a repayment deadline passed, according to a 10-page objection letter their attorney sent Victor officials Sept. 25 and provided to FingerLakes1. The lenders, acting through special servicer Rialto Capital Advisors, say the town's proposed acquisition would weaken their mortgage rights while returning control of the property to an entity affiliated with mall owner Wilmorite.
The development adds a significant new layer to a proposal Victor officials are preparing to put before the public Monday night. The town is considering acquiring interests in five mall parcels through eminent domain or a negotiated purchase, arguing the move could protect Eastview as a major source of jobs and tax revenue and allow stalled improvements to move forward.
The lenders' letter asks Victor to include their objections in the record of the 7 p.m. hearing. It is an advocacy filing, not a court ruling on the current proposal. Its claims about the town's motives, Wilmorite's finances and the legal sufficiency of the notice remain contested.
Loan extensions and foreclosure
The letter traces the dispute to a 2012 refinancing secured by the mall. It says Eastview Mall LLC borrowed $210 million, including $120 million now held by the U.S. Bank trust and $90 million by the Wells Fargo trust. The lenders say Wilmorite received about $55 million in cash from that transaction after an earlier $120 million mall loan was refinanced; that figure comes from their account of the loan documents, not an independent audit of the transaction.
The loan matured in September 2022 without full repayment, the letter says. A February 2023 modification required a roughly $3.46 million payment to cure that default and moved maturity to September 2024, with an option to extend it to September 2025. After another missed payment in 2024, the lenders agreed to forbear from enforcing their rights until Sept. 6, 2026, according to the letter. They filed the foreclosure case in state Supreme Court in New York County two days after that forbearance period ended.
The lenders are seeking appointment of Spinoso Real Estate Group as a receiver to operate Eastview while the foreclosure case proceeds. The letter describes that as a way to stabilize the mall and protect the collateral; it does not establish that a receiver has been appointed or that the lenders have taken possession.
Competing accounts of mall investment
Victor and Wilmorite say Rialto's control over cash and reserves has impeded maintenance, renovations and further development. The town's public explanation of the five-parcel plan says the acquisition would support jobs and sales-tax revenue, permit improvements such as parking and HVAC work, and keep the affected property under local control. Victor says the parcels would pass only briefly through town ownership before transfer to Victor 2040 LLC, which would pay the town's acquisition, legal and consultant costs.
The lenders dispute that Rialto has blocked investment. Their letter says Rialto disbursed about $9.4 million to Wilmorite from January through September 2026, including about $8.29 million for operating expenses and about $1.2 million for improvements to the Brooks Brothers space. It also says reserve funds covered roughly $6 million in property taxes and payments in lieu of taxes. Those figures are supplied by the lenders; the underlying account records and referenced exhibits were not included in the 10-page letter provided to FingerLakes1.
Town Supervisor Jack Marren has said Eastview supports close to 4,000 jobs and produces sales-tax revenue equal to about 20% of Victor's operating budget. The lenders say they share an interest in keeping the mall operating, but contend that its financial future should be resolved through the loan agreement and foreclosure process, not a town taking.
Lenders challenge the public purpose and notice
Attorney Keith Brandofino argues in the letter that Victor's plan would primarily benefit Wilmorite, not the public, by allowing a Wilmorite-affiliated entity to receive the parcels after condemnation while reducing the lenders' ability to recover the debt. He points to Victor 2040 LLC's connection to Wilmorite and the timing of the town's early-September condemnation notice near the end of the lenders' forbearance period. The town, by contrast, says maintaining a major employer and tax generator supplies the public purpose for its proposal and says the transaction would leave lenders in the same financial position.
The town's hearing notice describes a potential acquisition of property interests in five Eastview-area parcels while excluding interests held by tenants and the Ontario County Industrial Development Agency. Brandofino argues it does not say with enough precision whether Victor would take ownership of the land itself, extinguish mortgage interests, or take some other right. That uncertainty, he says, makes it difficult for affected parties to evaluate the proposal or alternatives. He also contends the town has not documented an initial classification or review under New York's State Environmental Quality Review Act. Those are the lenders' legal objections, not findings that Victor has violated either law.
The letter invokes an earlier Victor eminent-domain fight over the former Lord & Taylor store. A state appeals court rejected the town's first taking in 2022 for failing to identify a sufficient public purpose, then upheld a revised plan in 2024 that included retail redevelopment and 11,000 square feet of community and recreation space. The lenders argue that the later Bass Pro Shops project differs from that plan and that the community space has not been delivered. Victor cites the former store's redevelopment as an example of how its current approach can help Eastview; the letter's claims about what was ultimately built have not been independently established here.
Brandofino says the lenders will challenge a taking if Victor proceeds and may seek legal costs and damages. No court has ruled on the current five-parcel proposal, and the town has not made a final acquisition decision. Monday's hearing is intended to gather testimony and documents on the proposed public purpose, environmental effects and local impact; the town's notice says objections raised there could define the scope of any later judicial challenge.
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