Hungary Brook Shopping Center in foreclosure

The Hungary Brook Shopping Center in northern Henrico County is in foreclosure and on the auction block.

The retail center, on Concord Avenue near Parham and Brook roads, is scheduled to be auctioned off on the county court steps next Friday at 3 p.m.

The retail center, anchored by a Food Lion grocery store, was built in 1988.

It contains 87,188 square feet of retail space on a 9.7-acre site. Dollar Tree Stores Inc. recently signed a lease for 10,548 square feet there.

An online listing for the shopping center says 13,883 square feet is available for lease. Grubb & Ellis/Harrison & Bates, the leasing agent, declined to comment on the foreclosure process.

The property will be sold as is, according to a legal advertisement in the Richmond Times-Dispatch. A deposit in the form of certified funds for $150,000, or 10 percent of the highest bid, whichever is lower, is required at the time and place of the sale.

It is unknown whether the property actually will go to auction or whether the lender and borrower will work out a deal. Also, the stores in the center remain open.

Jerald S. Cohn, a Washington attorney representing the substitute trustee for the lender, said he could not comment.

Also, it is unclear why the shopping center is in trouble. However, financing in general has dried up for commercial real estate loans.

Unlike residential loans, most of which are paid over 30 years, commercial loans typically are five-, sevenor 10-year notes -- and many of those notes are coming due.

A wave of commercial-property foreclosures in the Richmond area and nationwide is expected in the next year, as borrowers face loans coming due on properties whose values have dropped.

Contact Carol Hazard at (804) 775-8023 or .