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The University of Wisconsin System may still be on the hook for debts accrued by the UW Oshkosh Foundation. The non-profit foundation is filing for chapter 11 protection over several real estate deals gone bad, WPR.org reported. The UW System asked Bankruptcy Judge Susan Kelley to either delay or dismiss the filing by the UW Oshkosh Foundation, but she denied that request last week. The foundation is seeking bankruptcy protection because of more than $15 million in debt on five capital projects, three of which are in the red. They include a biodigester in Rosendale, Wisc., a campus alumni welcome center, and a sports complex. The foundation is asking the UW System to cover some of its liability. The UW System is pursuing legal action against former UW-Oshkosh Chancellor Richard Wells and former Vice Chancellor Thomas Sonnleitner who approved the real estate transactions.

In retail, some brands that could no longer cut it with brick-and-mortar stores are getting a second wind in the digital world, according to a commentary in the Philadelphia Enquirer. The notion of the “zombie retailer” really came into vogue after the bankruptcy of Circuit City in 2008, Brown said. Though the retailer was liquidated, its intellectual property was bought in 2016 and the brand reemerged as an online consumer electronics retailer. Retail analyst Simeon Siegel, executive director at Nomura/Instinet Equity Research, said pure e-tailers’ physical stores validate the brick-and-mortar strategy. But “it is clear that certain companies may simply not be able to sustain them. And if a company has no stores, it will have shed itself of painful fixed expense (i.e., rent).”

A federal judge in Philadelphia yesterday rejected Wells Fargo & Co.’s bid to dismiss that city’s lawsuit accusing the largest U.S. mortgage lender of predatory lending targeting black and Hispanic borrowers, Reuters reported. U.S. District Judge Anita Brody said Philadelphia may pursue claims that the bank’s alleged “reverse redlining” violated the federal Fair Housing Act, though she had “serious concerns” about whether claims of economic harm could survive. The lawsuit is one of several against big lenders by major U.S. cities claiming that mortgage lending discrimination causes more defaults by minority borrowers, lower property tax revenue, and higher costs to combat crime and blight. Philadelphia accused Wells Fargo of having since 2004 steered minority borrowers into higher-cost, higher-risk loans than white borrowers, even if they qualified for safer loans.

Revel, the failed $2.4 billion casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey, built as a high-end playground for Wall Street bankers, sold for $200 million to a Colorado developer who plans to reopen it under the name Ocean Resort Casino, Bloomberg News reported. The Revel opened in 2012 as the tallest building in the seashore town with Beyoncé as its headliner. It closed two years later after two trips to bankruptcy court, and a judge allowed Florida developer Glenn Straub to buy the property for $82 million in 2016. Bruce Deifik, founder of Denver-based Integrated Properties, on Monday confirmed he bought the casino from Straub. Deifik said the 1,400-room property would open by summer, creating as many as 3,000 local jobs. In a nod to prior criticisms of the property as well as to attract new customers, Deifik said he planned to add an Asian noodle bar and a high-end players’ club. JPMorgan Chase & Co. provided financing for the deal, Jordan Deifik, chief operating officer of Integrated Properties, said in an interview.

A rash of store closures and bankruptcies last year prompted some investors to bet against debt tied to the retail property sector. So far, at least, the bets haven’t paid off, according to a Wall Street Journal commentary. The wager against commercial mortgage-backed securities largely has focused on the CMBX 6, a little-known credit default swap index that tracks the values of bonds backed by mortgages on malls as well as office buildings and other commercial properties. While a few slices of the index have slumped due to the perceived greater exposure to struggling mall properties and retail bankruptcies, more mall mortgage defaults would have to occur before investors will get a windfall. “Has the bet paid off? Not quite,” real-estate data provider Trepp Inc. said in a recent report. So far, Trepp said, only four loans tied to the CMBX 6 incurred losses, totaling just $4.3 million. Some landlords have refinanced their debt or found new tenants to take up space vacated by departing retailers, according to the commentary. At the same time, some retailers have worked out deals with landlords that allowed the owners to keep up their mortgage payments.