Houston’s Silver Star Properties Requests Proxy Vote Delay

30 September 2025

One thing is clear about the battle for leadership of Silver Star Properties: it’s going to take a while.

The Houston-based REIT is engaged in a nasty proxy battle with ex-CEO Allen Hartman and once again wants to delay the vote in response to Hartman’s messaging to shareholders. Voting is underway and will wrap up before a shareholder meeting scheduled for Oct. 6.

Silver Star claims Hartman is lying to shareholders to secure their votes and re-install him as CEO. The lawsuit fact-checks the materials Hartman has been disseminating to shareholders, including claims about executive compensation, the company’s performance and allegations that Silver Star is lying to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

“We have been advised by our proxy solicitor that some shareholders recently changed their votes from Silver Star to Hartman based on his unfounded accusations,” Silver Star Director Jack Tompkins wrote in an affidavit attached to the suit.

Silver Star asked a Maryland District Court to push the vote until Dec. 31 to provide a “cooling-off period.” The suit was filed in Maryland, because, though it’s headquartered in Houston, it’s a Maryland corporation.

Hartman called the filing part of Silver Star’s “ongoing effort to illegally reject the Company’s bylaws, which require an annual shareholder meeting.”

“By pushing to delay the vote, Silver Star is seeking to extend their control, continue collecting salaries and fees, and further destroy shareholder value for their own benefit at the expense of the Company and its investors,” he said in a statement.

Silver Star already delayed the shareholder meeting from August to October, telling shareholders the move was made because Hartman was “creating chaos” and “so that you have full and accurate information before casting your vote.”

The filing is the latest development in the yearslong saga of Hartman’s separation from the company he founded in 2009.

Hartman was ousted by the company’s board in 2023 for accusations of nepotism and mismanagement that allegedly culminated in Silver Star defaulting on a $259 million CMBS loan from Goldman Sachs in October 2023. Silver Star trustees sued Hartman for $50 million in December 2023, accusing him of fraud and self-dealing. The SEC opened an inquiry into the firm in February 2024. The board also claimed that Hartman has been trying to sabotage the company since his ouster.

Hartman has denied the allegations.

Amid the firm’s financial struggles, Haddock spearheaded an effort to sell off Silver Star’s 35-property portfolio of low-to-mid-tier office properties and pivot to self-storage. It’s not been easy. A Silver Star subsidiary filed for bankruptcy in 2023. Last month, the firm faced foreclosure on a $57.8 million loan from Benefit Street Partners tied to three office properties.

Meanwhile, the company has been collecting self-storage properties, including a $26.5 million property at 14810 Hagen Ranch Road in Delray Beach, Florida, which it purchased a year ago.