Flamengos Investments, the North Carolina-based company that purchased the foreclosure-bound Fort Steuben Mall in 2022, still hopes to recoup at least some of its more than $11 million investment from the company that sold it to them.

Last week, Jefferson Common Pleas Judge Michelle Miller ruled Flamengos’ lender, Total Finance, could move forward with foreclosing on the mall due to an unpaid $6.4 million note.

Flamengos had filed suit against Brookwood Capital in August 2022, claiming Brookwood had made false “representations” about the property.

The suit alleges Brookwood provided interested buyers with a “rent roll” suggesting dozens of tenants were leasing space and that the new owner could anticipate $140,000 a month in rental income from the property and that Brookwood committed to repairing the mall roof and parking lot “to the satisfaction” of the new buyer.

In the lawsuit, Flamengos alleges fraud, negligent misrepresentation and breach of contract by Brookwood, claiming businesses then located within the mall were “induced” by the former owner to sign rental agreements with promises “those leases would never be enforced.”

Brookwood Capital, however, contends the onus is on buyers to do their own due diligence and insists the purchase agreement stipulates properties are sold “as is, where is” and claims Flamengos “acknowledged and agreed that that they relied on their own “independent investigation and evaluation of every aspect of the property and not on any materials supplied by” Brookwood.