Bank of America, St. Louis JCC reach settlement in lawsuit

(JTA) — Bank of America and the Jewish Community Center of St. Louis settled a dispute over the JCC’s repayment of bonds and a revolving line of credit.

The terms of the agreement reached last week and announced Jan. 14 were not disclosed, The St. Louis Business Journal reported.

The bank had filed suit in U.S. District Court in Missouri last March alleging that the JCC was withholding $4 million in payments in an attempt to force the restructuring of $45 million in bond loans issued in 2007. The bank claimed that in December 2011, the JCC was capable of repaying $1.6 million in redemptions due on the bonds as well as more than $2.4 million owed on a line of credit issued in 2006.

Last March, the St. Louis Jewish Light reported that the day the suit was filed, a letter to the board from JCC board chairman Jonathan Deutsch and president and CEO Lynn Wittels expressed surprise at the allegations.

“We and other J representatives have been trying for nearly 18 months to get the bank to work with us to find a solution to this matter,” the letter said.

An amendment filed by Bank of America in September requested the repayment of all debts from the bonds, which reportedly were intended for capital improvements at two JCC locations — Creve Coeur Chesterfield and the Camp Sabra residential camp in Lake of the Ozarks.

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Adam Soclof writes for the JTA Archive Blog. “Like” the JTA Archive on Facebook and follow @JTAarchive on Twitter.

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