WESTBOROUGH – The fate of Regal Cinemas on Turnpike Road remains in the courts, and the case could still be in court come 2024.
The town is involved with two lawsuits —one over the process that awarded the bid for the former movie theater to LAX Media LLC and the other seeking to vacate the foreclosure granted to the town back in 2019.
Ferris Development Group lawsuit
In November 2022, Ferris Development Group filed suit against the town and LAX Media, claiming its bid to redevelop the theater property was “objectively superior.”
In January, a Worcester Superior Court judge denied a preliminary injunction against the town.
Ferris wants to convert the site into a “beehive” for local entrepreneurs. LAX Media, which was awarded the bid, wants to convert the site into a multiplex cinema.
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According to documents filed Aug. 9 in Superior Court, since January “the parties have worked toward the completion of written discovery, but require additional time to complete such discovery and conduct depositions.”
The initial deadlines issued by the court had completion of discovery by September; motions served and filed by November; and a final pretrial conference by March 2024. Lawyers for both sides have requested a four-month extension – completion of discovery by Jan. 11, 2024; motions served and filed by March 2024; and a final pretrial conference by July 8, 2024.
The request is pending.
Foreclosure of Regal Cinemas
The other lawsuit was filed in Worcester Land Court in January by Westborough SPE LLC, which claims to have purchased the company from the original owner.
Westborough SPE LLC is asking for a motion to vacate the foreclosure granted in 2019.
The documents were filed one day before the one-year deadline of the final foreclosure decree.
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Regal Cinemas closed in 2017; the following year, the town took the property for nonpayment of real estate taxes. In July 2019, the town filed a complaint with the Land Court.
On Jan. 5, 2022, the court issued its final judgment of the town’s taking of the property.
In the meantime, Lolonyon Akouete and Denise Edwards claimed to acquire the company from its previous owner, F. Jan Blaustein.
On Dec. 6, 2022, Westborough’s town treasurer, Robert Haley, received an email from Akouete, an “asset recovery specialist,” that stated Akouete had “acquired Westborough SPE LLC and we would like to redeem.”
On Jan. 14, Iris Leahy, the attorney representing Westborough, received a copy of the bill of sale from Akouete. It comprised two pages, with the seller listed as Westborough SPE LLC, and the buyers as Edwards and Akouete. The sale was made on Nov. 21, 2022, and it was executed on Dec. 8.
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Leahy argued that the Westborough SPE LLC, which was formed in 2022, is not the same company as the one that leased Regal Cinemas.
In a suit filed in Land Court in Worcester on Jan. 23, the town said that the motion to vacate the foreclosure “is not supported by facts and evidence to prove the right title and interest in the locus…”
A pretrial hearing on whether to vacate the decision is scheduled for Thursday, Aug. 31, in Suffolk Land Court in Boston.
The Select Board continues to discuss both cases in executive session.