Banking group files suit over millions in loans.

Developers of the largest single residential building project currently under way in Leelanau County are now being sued in federal court by a national banking association over the failure to pay off loans totaling nearly $10 million in connection with one of their downstate projects.

In a suit filed May 7 in U.S. District Court in Detroit, Keybank National Association alleges that developer Marcus Yono, at least two of his companies, and his business partner, Jeffrey Roth, are in default on two loans the banking association made to them in 2004 for acquisition of property and development of “StoneRidge,” a residential housing project in downstate Livingston County.

Yono’s Livingston Building Company, and his development company “Stoneridge Communities L.L.C.,” are also named as defendants, along with more than 20 other companies that have filed construction liens against the development.

Livingston Building Company has also been overseeing development of the massive “BayView” project in the Village of Suttons Bay since 2004. Roth is listed as a partner in Yono’s “Suttons Pointe Development L.L.C.” and “Leelanau Hills Development L.L.C.” The Roth family owned the former Frigid Foods property in Suttons Bay where most of the BayView project is located.

Planned to more than double the size of the Village of Suttons Bay with at least 500 new housing units, construction of new single family homes in Phase II of BayView has been halted since last year while sales of new waterfront condos in Phase I of BayView have all but dried up amid a sinking housing market. Yono and Suttons Pointe Development L.LC. have faced 10 lawsuits so far this year with only two of the 10 still pending – both from mortgage providers alleging that the developers have defaulted on more than $1.2 million in loans they secured on BayView properties.

As for the federal lawsuit involving the downstate StoneRidge project, also named as defendants are the federal Internal Revenue Service and the Michigan Department of Treasury – both of which have filed leins against the developer.

The banking association asserts that its claims against the developer supersede those of the federal and state governments – and that the banking association must be paid first. The banking association has also filed a motion to appoint a receiver – meaning that, if a federal court judge agrees, much of the StoneRidge development could be seized from the developer.

Meanwhile, in Leelanau County, the federal Internal Revenue Service has continued to file liens against Yono in the Leelanau County Register of Deeds office. In addition to failing to pay his individual federal income taxes in 2005 in the amount of $117,572, lien documents filed by the IRS indicate that Yono has also failed to pay more than $250,000 in federal payroll taxes that he withheld from his employees in 2005 through the second half of 2007. Lien documents have been added on a quarterly basis since early this year.

IRS officials note that an employer’s failure to pay federal payroll taxes can result in federal criminal prosecution leading to incarceration.

The law firm representing Keybank National Association in the federal court case against the developer regarding his downstate StoneRidge project is Howard and Howard Attorneys, P.C. of Bloomfield Hills. Up until last year, the firm represented Yono and his companies.

An attorney formerly employed with Howard and Howard, Roger L. Meyers, currently represents Yono. Meyers did not respond to a newspaper reporter’s request for comment on the new federal court case against his client. Yono has not returned phone calls from the Enterprise for more than a year.