SPANISH FORT, Ala.-A Baldwin County circuit judge has placed the Spanish Fort Town Center in receivership, and set a June 1 meeting to determine if any progress toward resolution of the debts have been made.

The shopping center houses such retailers as Bass Pro Shops, Kohl’s, JC Penney and Books-A-Million, but generates only about $700,000 in annual sales tax collections as opposed to the anticipated $2 million envisioned when the project was launched, Mayor Joe Bonner said.

Andrew Bolnick of Clearwater, Fla., has been named receiver and will take control of the Cypress assets.

According to court documents, Texas-based Cypress/Spanish Fort I LP owes lenders more than $83 million, including an outstanding $17.5 million construction loan that matured in 2010 plus interest payments resulting from a more than $66 million bond issue. Bank of America provided the construction loan.

City Attorney David Conner, who briefed members of the City Council on the development during a recent informal work session, said the city is "under no obligation" in the matter because of the cooperative improvement district governing the development and enacted to "protect the city."

Conner said the project carried a debt service of $2.57 million, but fees assessed to repay those bonds must be raised to meet the obligation. Per the CID arrangement, all sales within the center are subject to the fees.

"If you go back in time and see when that center opened up, it was in and about the time the financial turn took place," Bonner said, noting at least one car dealership reconsidered its commitment, one big-box retail tenant filed for bankruptcy protection and the majority of restaurants that had expressed interest in the center’s build-out scrapped expansion plans due to the economy.