Excerpt from the Dayton Daily News
Wright State University’s real estate arm, Double Bowler, is being sued in Greene County Common Pleas Court for foreclosure on four office building properties across Colonel Glenn Highway from WSU.
In 2019, Sunflower Public Finance, a lender for tax-exempt properties, entered into mortgage and bond agreements with Double Bowler for the properties, in amounts over $10.8 million.
In May 2024, Sunflower sued Double Bowler over alleged nonpayment, according to the lawsuit, and the courts appointed a receiver to run Double Bowler in September.
The receiver reported last fall that two of the four buildings had substantial vacancy, in part because WSU had been using some space, but moved those uses back to the main campus. The receiver cited Double Bowler’s lack of pursuit of new tenants and said some plumbing and environmental problems with the buildings needed to be addressed.
In February, Sunflower moved for summary judgment and a decree of foreclosure, saying Double Bowler was in default, with $10.56M in principal and interest still due.
In 2019, the Ohio Inspector General found the private nonprofit real estate corporation Double Bowler violated state law and improperly paid former U.S. congressman Steve Austria for lobbying. The university violated state law by not getting approval from the State Controlling Board and the chancellor of the Ohio Department of Higher Education when buying property, according to the investigation.
