Ken Losch, principal with locally based Avenue Communities saysthe actions will help Centerpoint's development entity Tempe LandCo. LLC seek relief from creditors and investors resulting fromMortgages Ltd. non-payment of a promised loan for the developmentat 110 E. Seventh St. "No one will be shorted. Investors are goingto get 100 cents on the dollar. That's not what any of this isabout," Losch says.

Stanley Bronstein, a licensed real estate lawyer and CPA inArizona, says filing Chapter 11 is the only way Avenue Communitiescould slow demands of creditors and investors, while new financingis put in place and the court decides the outcome of the suitagainst Mortgages Ltd. "Chapter 11 gives him time and control tohave a prayer of this working out," says Bronstein, who is notinvolved with the case, nor affiliated with Mortgages Ltd. "Thismove makes sense to me. He has people chasing him. He's trying toslow them down, and allow him the chance to make thingshappen."

Losch says Avenue Communities has found a new lender for theproject, which he declined to name. The new lender will be thefirst paid back under the proposed bankruptcy plan as MortgagesLtd. defaulted on the original loan payment of $150 million agreedto in March 2007 and the settlement agreement of $75 million whichwas arranged last summer.