Rubloff is inching closer to defaulting on a suburban shopping center that is performing well in a tumultuous retail sector. The firm has been unable to refinance its mortgage on Woodscreek Commons, according to Crain's Chicago Business. With the maturity date on the loan fast approaching, Rubloff is running out of time to find a lender.

Rubloff originally defaulted on the $28.6M mortgage for Woodscreek Commons last October, but a loan servicer agreed to extend the maturity date to Oct. 6 to give Rubloff time to line up refinancing. But with investment sales declining in the first half of 2017 and investors moving to low-risk urban retail assets, that is unlikely.

Rubloff's struggle to refinance the 207K SF shopping center is a reminder of ongoing CMBS volatility dating back to the pre-crash market. Woodscreek Commons is 99% occupied and generating revenue, but 45% of the center's leases are expected to expire in the next 11 to 20 months.