Group calls on Bucks owner to help foreclosures, company refutes claims

A coalition of religious, community and non-profit groups called Common Ground is expressing opposition to public funding for a new arena, by once again targeting one of the Bucks owner Wesley Edens. Edens is on the board of Nationstar Mortgage Company. The company services loans on many foreclosed homes in Milwaukee.

Common Ground wants Edens to step up and help out with these foreclosed homes.  At a press conference Thursday, they called him a \"slumlord\". They say these foreclosed homes are destroying many Milwaukee neighborhoods. They believe Edens should work with Nationstar to help improve these homes.

However, Nationstar has a different story. The company says it sent senior level executives to Milwaukee to work with Common Ground. The company says it agreed to donate four properties in the Sherman Park neighborhood. The company agreed to donate the properties and agreed to donate $15,000 per property for rehabilitation. But now the company says Common Ground refuses to proceed with the agreement. Because of that, Nationstar is putting the properties up for sale.  The company says Common Ground seems to have a larger objective in mind, Which seems to be a one-on-one meeting with Edens.

\"We want a face-to-face meeting with Mr. Edens to talk about these crumbling properties in our neighborhoods,\" Common Ground representative Jennifer O'Hear said. \"We have been trying for nine months to get this meeting. If Mr. Edens doesn't meet with us, we'll go to the Nationstar shareholders meeting in Texas in May.\"

Nationstar hopes Common Ground will reconsider the agreements.

Milwaukee Bucks Public Relations Rep. Jake Suski says, \"We believe a new entertainment and sports destination in Milwaukee will benefit the entire community. A new multi-purpose arena and the additional investment it attracts would not only be transformative for downtown, but a catalyst for economic growth for the entire region and state.\"