EF Hutton borrows $3M against prominent downtown Springfield building

Downtown office tower has been key to the financial firm’s move to Springfield, local leaders say.

EF Hutton America has borrowed $3 million using the company’s downtown office tower as collateral, according to documents filed with the Clark County Recorder’s Office.

The documents obtained by the Springfield News-Sun show EF Hutton America took out an open-end mortgage on the property at 1 Main St. last month.

Chris Daniels, the company’s CEO, declined to comment on the transaction.

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Documents filed with the recorder’s office show the terms of the note require that it be repaid in full on or before Feb. 1 next year.

The lender is listed in the documents as Private Mortgage Investments, LLC, Series 4. It’s based in Magnolia, Texas, said Mitch Vicknair, the firm’s managing partner. Vicknair declined to discuss the transaction.

EF Hutton America is a financial services company that opened in downtown Springfield last fall in the former Credit Life Building. The 10-story building is one of the most prominent office buildings in Springfield and has since been renamed EF Hutton Tower. The Springfield News-Sun is a tenant in the building.

Local leaders agreed to change the company’s address from 1 S. Limestone St. to 1 Main St. when the company announced its move to Springfield.

READ MORE: Springfield-based EF Hutton says fraud wiped out 8 weeks of business

Jim and Nike Lagos, the building’s former owners, donated the tower and the State Theater to SpringForward, a local nonprofit organization. The State Theater isn’t included in the mortgage transaction filed last month, according to theClark County Recorder’s Office.

Records filed with the Clark County Auditor’s Office show SpringForward immediately transferred the two properties to EF Hutton America.

Property sale records show that the two buildings were transferred for $8 million. But details of the transaction are private so it’s not publically known if any money has changed hands.

SpringForward wrote a seven-year, long-term note to the company, SpringForward organizer Ted Vander Roeast has said. Two unnamed directors of the company have agreed to guarantee the note, according to a previous news release from the company. As compensation, the directors will receive stock.

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Local leaders have said the building transaction was a key element of the company’s move downtown.

Vander Roest declined to comment on last month’s mortgage transaction, noting it was a private business agreement.

EF Hutton America has faced several challenges since their move to Springfield. Company leaders said in December it was the victim of a marketing fraud that cost the firm two months of business. The company has been sued in federal court by a former executive.


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