Tower Place lessor to be fired

The owner of downtown's Tower Place Mall said this morning that he will fire Madison Marquette Realty Services as leasing agent for the property and replace the firm with CB Richard Ellis after reading in the Enquirer that Madison Marquette had agreed to a $200,000 settlement with the state.

Madison Marquette, which has a regional office in Cincinnati, accepted the penalty Nov. 28, avoiding a formal hearing. The state had charged that between February 2005 and February 2007, the company was actively listing Tower Place retail space without having a real estate brokerage license in Ohio.

Officials also charged Madison Marquette with doing the same at Lane Avenue Shopping Center in the Columbus suburb of Upper Arlington between September 2001 and last February.

Armand Lasky, a principal at Northeastern Securities Development Corp., which owns Tower Place, said he was unaware of the fine before today.

"I’m looking at this and I’m shocked. As a matter of fact I’m calling my lawyer to see if I can get back the fees we paid them," Lasky said. "Would I hire somebody who's unlicensed? Are you crazy?"

Northeastern hired Madison Marquette after its August purchase of the property.

A spokesman for the real estate and licensing division said Thursday that Madison Marquette had not since obtained a license.

Madison Marquette did not immediately return phone calls on the matter.

Madison Marquette is a Washington, D.C.-based investor, developer and operator of retail and mixed-use real estate throughout the United States. It also manages and leases on behalf of third-party owners.

The company has 30 days from the date of the settlement to pay the $200,000 fine and also agreed to stop conducting real estate transactions in Ohio until it has a license or hires a licensed firm.

Marketing materials for Tower Place could still be found Thursday on the company's web site.

Dennis Ginty, a spokesman for the Ohio Division of Real Estate and Professional Licensing, said on Thursday that Madison Marquette had not yet obtained a license but that he did not know whether it had engaged another firm.

Real Estate Designers offers totally innovative solutions for your software development, Internet programming, real estate web design and hosting needs. Our service includes domain name registration and real estate web design. Real Estate Designers provides the complete solution including design, application development and marketing.

source: enquirer.com