Evans Bank attempted foreclosure of the former Jamestown Brewing Company appears headed to a non-jury trial in state Supreme Court in Mayville.

A court filing late last week in Evans Bank N.C. v. GPatti Enterprises, George A. Patti III, Chautauqua County Industrial Development Agency et. al. has requested a trial without jury in the case. The bank is demanding $1,522,913.90 plus applicable fees and interests as well as the right to foreclose on the property.

The filing is the latest in a long line of filings, claims and counterclaims over the former Jamestown Brewing Company on West Third Street, Jamestown.

In May 2022, Evans Bank filed a lawsuit against GPatti Enterprises LLC, George A. Patti and the Chautauqua County Industrial Development asking the state Supreme Court to allow the former Jamestown Brewing Company building at 119 W. Third St., Jamestown, to be sold so the bank can recoup the $1,522,913.90 it says it is owed. Patti has filed a counterclaim as part of his answer to Evans Bank’s filing asking the court for at least $2 million in damages.

At issue is a $1.5 million construction loan signed in 2018 to convert the former Dr. Lillian Ney Renaissance Center into the Jamestown Brewing Company. According to the loan documentation, Patti was only required to make interest payments on the loan until July 2019 or until the conversion conditions were met. Evans Bank said the conditions weren’t met and the loan became payable on July 27, 2019. On Sept. 15, 2021, Evans Bank confirmed the loan was payable and demanded payment of $1,522,913.90. Through May 9, that amount has grown to $1,549,287.17.

Patti’s lawyers argue Evans Bank decided in November 2018 to pay SLR Contracting and Service Co., the general contractor in charge of the brewery’s construction, directly and take a more active role in project administration. The bank, Miller said, began reviewing and approving payments, which allegedly took control of the loan away from Patti. That led to problems because the bank did not require SLR to obtain interim lien waivers from subcontractors. When subcontractors weren’t paid, Miller wrote, subcontractors filed mechanic’s liens totaling $426,502.44 against Patti and the brewery owners. The unpaid contractors resulted in construction delays that prevented the loan from converting to permanent financing.

The bank had tried to separate Patti’s counterclaims from the foreclosure lawsuit, but state Supreme Court Judge Grace Hanlon decided earlier this year to hear the entire case.

Patti has also argued in court that he has a potential buyer, and proceeds from the sale could be used to pay Evans Bank the money it is owed.

The foreclosure case is the third lawsuit filed over the property since 2019, when the owners of Jamestown Brewing Company filed a lawsuit in 2019 against GPatti Inc. alleging the brewing company owners weren’t fully notified about environmental issues at the site of the W.T. Grant building that prompted months of delays opening the business. Jamestown Brewing’s owners asked for at least $1 million in damages as well as compensatory damages, interest, attorney’s fees and other costs, but much of that lawsuit was later dismissed.

Then, in 2020, GPatti Inc. filed eviction proceedings against Jamestown Brewing Company alleging thousands of dollars in unpaid rent and breach of contract. The judge ruled in favor of GPatti, and the site has been vacant since.

The Jamestown Brewing Company project cost $3.84 million, with $475,000 of that amount paid with a state Main Street Grant. The project also was to receive $830,000 from the state Downtown Revitalization Initiative’s $10 million award to Jamestown. The downtown brewery officially closed it doors in 2020.