BETHLEHEM — Swifty’s Restaurant and Pub, the Four Corners mainstay that was briefly shut down by the state in December over a multimillion-dollar unpaid tax bill, owes NBT Bank over $100,000 and the lender is moving to foreclose on the property.
A lawsuit filed Thursday in state Supreme Court in Albany alleges the owner, Dave Swift, stopped making payments on a $300,000 mortgage on the restaurant’s Delmar location at 367 Delaware Ave. on Nov. 18, days before state Department of Taxation and Finance seized the property and two other Swifty’s locations.
The lawsuit says Swift and his estranged wife, Rebecca Swift, also failed to make payments on a $25,000 line of credit. In total, they owe $108,768 with interest accruing daily.
It is unclear if the other Swifty’s locations in Colonie and Utica are also in foreclosure. The summons says the Swifts have 20 days to respond to the lawsuit or a default judgment will be entered against them and NBT Bank will take control of the property.
The Albany Business Review first reported the news of the lawsuit.
The foreclosure proceedings are the latest blow to the troubled watering hole. A Taxation and Finance spokesperson told the Times Union that Swift owed the state $2.2 million in sales tax revenue.
A database of state warrants named Swift “individually and as a responsible person of Swifty’s Restaurant and Pub Inc.” and/or other people and business entities associated with the restaurant in 15 separate warrants dating to 2016 for unpaid sales and withholding taxes in Albany and Oneida counties.
The Delmar location reopened after its seizure and has been serving customers through the winter and early spring with a limited menu. It was open on Monday.
Swift did not immediately respond to a request for comment.