The positive ruling for the lender comes two months after aFederal Court found Citicorp guilty of fraudulently foreclosing onarchitects Richard and Glenn Storek's Old Oakland project. TheStoreks convinced a jury the bank had prevented them from landingtenants by denying funds for necessary construction and tenantimprovement work.

While happy about the punitive damages victory - the court ruledCalifornia law bans imposition of punitive damages in this case -Citicorp has vowed to pursue a challenge to the compensatoryruling. Industry sources say the lender fully intends to put theproperty on the market in the near future in a bid to get it offthe lender's balance sheets.

Citicorp's decision to foreclose on the Storeks followed thebrothers' methodical efforts to restore and redeveloping a dozen19th century buildings in a two block area of downtown area. TheStoreks efforts, albeit very expensive, began in the late '70s.Despite their efforts, the city's high-crime reputation made itdifficult to lease space as quickly as the two had hoped.