Bank seeks $2M from estate of London Witte Group founder

An Illinois bank seeking to foreclose on property on the southwest side of Indianapolis also is attempting to collect a $2 million debt from the estate of a local business executive who died in 2010.

Herget Bank in Champaign filed suit this month in Marion Superior Court, asking Judge Thomas J. Carroll to appoint a receiver to manage the property during the foreclosure.

The land, at 2301 S. Holt Road between Interstate 70 and Kentucky Avenue, is home to Tyson Corp., a supplier of commercial modular buildings founded by Richard J. Salewicz of Carmel.

Salewicz died in April 2010 at age 61. Besides owning Tyson, he founded London Witte Group LLC, Indianapolis’ 19th-largest accounting firm, according to IBJ statistics. He also was a chief financial officer of information technology firm Lightbound LLC, located near Kentucky Avenue on the southwest side.

The foreclosure suit filed by Herget on Feb. 16 names Salewicz’s estate in addition to Tyson Corp. and Bazyli LLC, an entity established to receive financing for the Holt Road property.

Bazyli and Salewicz originally received a $1.2 million loan from Illinois-based Strategic Capital Bank in November 2003. Strategic failed and was taken over in 2009 by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which appointed Midland States Bank in Champaign as receiver. Herget Bank later acquired Strategic’s assets.

In the meantime, Bazyli and Salewicz received a second loan from Strategic in December 2006, bringing the total amount owed to $2.2 million.

Acting as receiver for Strategic, Midland agreed several times to extend terms of the loan, which ultimately came due last September. Including principal of $1.9 million and interest charges, Herget says it is owed $2 million.

Midland filed a similar claim of $2 million in July 2010, a few months after Salewicz’s death, in Hamilton Superior Court. That claim is pending.