ST. LOUIS — Midwest Regional Bank is suing the wife of a Green Street Real Estate Ventures leader, alleging she’s liable for more than $16 million of the developer’s debt.
The bank claims Jane Morrell, wife of Green Street Principal Kevin Morrell, guaranteed multiple loans for several Green Street affiliates from around 2019 through 2022, according to the lawsuit filed Monday in St. Louis County Circuit Court.
Midwest Regional Bank alleges that the Green Street entities defaulted on each of the loans and that the bank is owed $16.3 million.
It’s not clear from the loan documents which projects the money funded, but several of the entities were connected to Green Street’s construction business, Armory development and north St. Louis warehouse complex, among others.
Jane Morrell was not a Green Street employee but had personally and through her trust signed commercial guaranties for her husband’s businesses, documents show.
She did not respond to a request for comment.
The lawsuit is the latest in the legal saga following Green Street’s crash that began during the pandemic in which projects sputtered, the company laid off most of its staff, and its cornerstone development, the Armory event and entertainment venue in Midtown, abruptly closed.
The company and its principals, Kevin Morrell and Phil Hulse, have since faced a number of lawsuits from former employees, lenders and investors.
The pressure led Kevin Morrell to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, also known as a “fresh start bankruptcy,” and earlier this summer the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of Eastern Missouri discharged more than $69 million of that debt.
The bankruptcy filing revealed how complicated Green Street’s holdings became with more than three dozen limited liability companies under the company umbrella and various financial vehicles. Both Hulse, Hulse’s wife, and Kevin Morrell had personally and through their respective trusts guaranteed multiple loans, court documents show.
Green Street was one of the city’s most active developers over the past decade, when it took on difficult brownfield industrial sites and transformed them into suitable industrial parks that brought in new business. It branched out into multifamily and other commercial developments, including multiple apartment projects in The Grove and Forest Park Southeast neighborhoods.
The developer sought national projects — acquiring several design firms and launching its own construction company — before the pandemic hit and revenues nosedived.
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Steph Kukuljan | Post-Dispatch
Real estate and development
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Bank sues wife of Armory developer for $16M in unpaid loans
