Court records show borrowers stopped payments on $4.5M note, prompting loan recall
Ocean City restaurateur Peter Elias and his partners in a 17th Street renovation project are facing a $3.5 million court-ordered judgment after defaulting on a commercial loan.
The Bank of Ocean City is suing The Bistro and Lounge LLC as the borrower and Elias as its managing member. He is being sued both individually and under the LLC, which owns the Cowboy Coast restaurant property at 1706-1708 Philadelphia Ave.
Court documents show the bank in November 2024 approved a $4.5 million loan at 7.25% interest, with the property listed as collateral. A payment history included in the court filing indicated the loan had monthly interest-only payments of $23,000.
The Feb. 11 lawsuit alleges that, as of Jan. 26, there was still $3.49 million owed on the note, including $3.4 million in unpaid principal and $98,138 in unpaid interest.
As a result, the bank served a default notice and called back the loan. On March 8, Worcester County Circuit Court Judge Brian Shockley issued a judgment in the bank’s favor for $3.49 million.