By Bethany Nolan
331-4373 | bnolan@heraldt.com
June 30 – Although a $200,000 donation stalled foreclosure proceedings for the Tibetan Cultural Center, the center isn’t out of the financial woods yet.
Attorney David Colman, who represents the center, confirmed the center is again set for sheriff’s sale in August.
“That’s the next rotation,” he said. “We bought a few months’ time to come to an agreement.”
But if mortgage holder Mooring Capital Fund and the center can’t reach an agreement on how to pay back about $1.5 million in debt, the center could still go up for sale, he said.
As of now, that sale is set at 10 a.m. Aug. 19 in the lobby of the Curry building.
“There is still a very serious problem there,” Colman said. “A lot has to happen between now and August to keep the ship floating.”
Nevertheless, he said he’s confident the center will obtain the financial help it needs.
That plan could include seeking the advice of a professional fundraiser, as well as seeking additional donations and the assistance of the community, he said.
In June, the center was to have been sold at a sheriff’s sale to pay off $1.7 million in debt owed to a Virginia-based financial organization.
But a last-minute anonymous donation saved the center from sale, and a new president was brought in to serve on the board.
According to court documents, the Tibetan Cultural Center held several mortgages dating back to September 2000 and at least three lines of credit worth about $1.3 million.
The money was used to build the interfaith Chamtse Ling Temple on the center’s 90-acre property on Snoddy Road, which was consecrated by the Dalai Lama in September 2003.
