Metropolitan Mortgage

A court-ordered report suggests that bankrupt Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities' entire family of so-called independent companies be merged. If adopted by the court, such a consolidation would drop claims the companies have against each other and treat investors in Metropolitan and its sister company Summit Securities Inc. as equals in their ongoing bankruptcy case.

Davenport Hotel owner Walt Worthy has abandoned the idea of turning the 17-story Metropolitan Financial Center into a hotel. Worthy said he's looking instead at building a five-to-10 story hotel with parking on the vacant lot at First and Post, which is a block to the west.

Washington's insurance commissioner has sued Ernst & Young LLP, accusing the auditing firm of failing to uncover, divulge and stop accounting abuses at bankrupt Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities Inc. Commissioner Mike Kreidler – who took control of Metropolitan affiliate Western United Life Assurance Co. earlier this year – said the Big 4 accounting firm didn't do its job and thus didn't protect policyholders and investors.

A Kirkland, Wash., investment and development firm has submitted the winning bid for Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities Co.'s 77-acre Summit property on the Spokane River just north of downtown. Matt Aatai, managing partner of Seawest Investment Associates LLC, said his company's plan is to develop some of the property and sell some of it. He declined to disclose his offer, but Metropolitan's chief financial officer and the listing broker who handled the sale implied the offer equaled or exceeded what the bankrupt Metropolitan owes on the property.

The proposed sale of the Metropolitan Performing Arts Theater in downtown Spokane concludes next week with a deadline that will decide if more than one bidder is interested in the historic building. Robert Delaney, a corporate attorney for Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities Co., Inc., the theater's owner, said bids by qualified buyers must be submitted by 5 p.m. Thursday.

ODESSA, Wash. – When Metropolitan Mortgage collapsed this year, Odessa was hard hit. Of the 940 people in this tidy farm town west of Spokane, about 70 stand to lose most of the money they invested in the company. So do community groups, churches and businesses. The total losses in Odessa could reach more than $4 million.

The legal costs of defending former Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities Inc. executives and board members are adding up. Law firms representing the bankrupt company's former officials want to draw fees from a $17 million pool of insurance money. That money is considered an asset to creditors.

Thousands of Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities creditors may receive a small check next year as the failed financial firm is pulled apart and sold off piece by piece. The checks are likely to be just cents on the dollar of the creditors' original investment and will be paid only to holders of unsecured bonds called debentures.

Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities Co. said Thursday it has signed an agreement to sell the historic Metropolitan Performing Arts Theater to Spokane residents Mitch and Cindy Silver. The Silvers have offered $808,000 cash for the theater at 901 W. Sprague Ave.