We are happy to announce that we have now completed the transaction with M & T Bank.  The payout on our line of credit was $243,042.38, representing approximately $238,000 in principle, plus interest and fees.

We thank attorney James Wawrzyniak of Covington and Burling for legal counsel, provided pro bono. We deeply appreciate his efforts on our behalf in concluding the negotiations.

As we continue to receive occasional questions about this financial situation, we thought it would be good to review, once again, the events that led up to this happy conclusion.

1. A group of Buddhists acquired the temple property (seven acres) in 1985, with a mortgage held by Riggs Bank.  That mortgage was re-financed in 1994 to make KPC the borrower.
2. KPC acquired the 65 acre Peace Park in 1989, with a separate mortgage, held by the seller.
3. KPC paid off the Riggs Bank mortgage on the temple property in 1998.
4. In 2005, KPC opened a $250,000 line of credit with Provident Bank  and used the entire amount to pay off the privately-held mortgage on the Peace Park.  The temple property (the seven acres) was used as security.  Provident also asked us to put up a Certificate of Deposit in the amount of $25,000, as security against falling in arrears.
5. In late spring of 2009, Provident Bank was acquired by M & T Bank.
6. As of April 2010, with the economic downturn, KPC was $13,000 in arrears on the loan.  We did have fund-raising efforts in place (“The Rainbow Initiative”) and assumed that the Certificate of Deposit gave us a cushion of several months in which to raise the funds needed.
7. In a letter dated April 22, 2010 from their law firm, M & T called the note, giving KPC until April 30 to pay it off completely.  Although the letter text refers to it as a “certified letter,” it did in fact arrive by regular daily postal delivery on April 23, and was opened by a member of the board the next day.
8. We are not aware of any previous attempts by M & T to solicit the funds.

For those who are interested, we have included a copy of the letter from the law firm representing M & T Bank.