SALISBURY — No one offered an upset bid for the Salisbury Mall by the 5 p.m. deadline Thursday, meaning it is now owned by the lender.
At an auction earlier this month, Wells Fargo Bank bid about $10.3 million for the property, which went into foreclosure Nov. 9 after Florida investors Sam and Simone Spiegel defaulted on a $19.7 million loan.
Samco Properties, a commercial real estate company the Spiegels founded, bought the mall in 2003 but had not made a loan payment since July 2009, according to foreclosure documents.
In North Carolina, Samco owns Marketplace Mall in Winston-Salem, Westgate Plaza in Durham and Forest Ridge Shopping Center in Asheville, according to the company website.
Wells Fargo has acted as trustee for the registered loan holders, Credit Suisse First Boston Mortgage Securities Corp.
Mooresville attorney Kevin Donaldson, the substitute trustee in the foreclosure process, said that no one submitted a higher bid, the sale would be closed and the deed transferred to the bank.
The auction was postponed three times — in December, January and February — at the request of Donaldson on behalf of the holder, court documents said.
The mall, at the intersection of Statesville and Jake Alexander boulevards, remains open for business.