But Dwight Peterson, director of the Utah office of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, said HUD has begun doing the same thing in cities and towns across the country.

“It's to convince the city [the agency is] serious,” Peterson said Wednesday. “It's to make sure they commit themselves to repaying the loan.”

Many cities and towns have defaulted on Section 108 loans - the kind Ogden is seeking - and then turned to their senators and representatives, asking them to pressure HUD to forgive the debt, Peterson said.

In order to qualify for the loans, a city must pledge part of its yearly HUD grant as repayment. Turning to Congress is an attempt to get out of that obligation, he said.

Richard McConkie, deputy director of Ogden's Community and Economic Development Department, said the city plans to repay the $2 million loan with revenue from The Salomon Center, as the recreation center has been named.

It's the centerpiece - along with the Treehouse Museum and a movie theater owned by businessman Larry H. Miller - of a new city-owned mall, The Junction, being built in downtown Ogden. The Junction replaces the failed Ogden City Mall, which the city purchased and demolished.

If The Salomon Center revenue is not sufficient, the city will use a portion of its annual HUD grant, typically about $1.1 million, to make the roughly $170,000 yearly loan payment, McConkie said.

The city suggested that HUD put the lien on the Justice Court building, which the city bought from the county and remodeled last year. It wanted that lien to be a third piece of collateral because it is roughly the same value as the loan, McConkie said.

“The city would never allow a foreclosure on a municipal building," he said. "We'd find other funds to pay the balance."

Mayor Matthew Godfrey, on March 22, approved the lien's placement after a notice was posted in the municipal building about a 10 a.m. public hearing in the mayor's conference room.

No member of the public attended the hearing. The City Council was notified, as is required by law, said Executive Director Bill Cook.

The city is eager to close on the loan because the recreation center, due to open in June, is nearly finished, and final payments will soon be due to the contractor, McConkie said.

kmoulton@sltrib.com