Lost Creek Associates, LLC v. Marine Midland Bank

• Decision Date: 29 April 2002
• Citation: 293 A.D.2d 719,741 N.Y.S.2d 115
• Parties: LOST CREEK ASSOCIATES, LLC, et al., Appellants,<BR>v.<BR>MARINE MIDLAND BANK et al., Respondents.
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division

293 A.D.2d 719

741 N.Y.S.2d 115

LOST CREEK ASSOCIATES, LLC, et al., Appellants,

v.MARINE MIDLAND BANK et al., Respondents.

Decided April 29, 2002.

O'Brien, J.P., Friedmann, H. Miller and Crane, JJ., concur.

Ordered that the order is affirmed insofar as appealed from, with costs.

The plaintiffs sought a loan from the defendants to finance the construction of a mixed-use commercial and residential ski resort in Telluride, Colorado.By letter dated July 3, 1997, the defendants, Marine Midland Bank and Marine Midland Realty Credit Corporation(hereinafter MMB), set forth a preliminary summary of the loan terms they would be willing to "submit to [their] senior management for approval."The letter outlined a bridge loan in the amount of $1 million and a construction loan in the amount of $9.6 million.Repayment of the bridge loan was required within 90-180 days, or upon the funding of the construction loan, whichever was earlier.The letter also provided that "this extension must be reviewed and approved by MMB's senior management," and in the event that senior management "approves the extension," it would "only become effective after formal documents, satisfactory to MMB, are executed by all parties."

The plaintiffs aver that before the closing of the $1 million loan on July 22, 1997, an MMB senior vice-president told them that the construction loan would close after the parties returned from their respective vacations.The parties conducted ongoing negotiations and drafted the customary document proposals in the interim,...