chapter 11 bankruptcy

David Barton Gyms Files Chapter 11

The high-priced David Barton Gym is straining under the weight of its own debt. Crain's New York reports that the gym, which has three locations in New York City as well as Chicago, Miami and Bellevue, Washington, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The fitness center's revenue last year was nearly $28.3 million which was an 18% uptick from the previous year but the company's debt was much bigger, $65.5 million. Part of the gym's appeal, a dedication to luxury and flash, has also been its problem. The gym has a total of around 13,500 total members.

The David Barton Gyms will remain open during the resturcturing and the company is entering into an agreement with Meridian Sports Club, a company which also uses the name Bodies in Motion and has health clubs in California and Hawaii. Meridian plans to open a new Las Vegas David Barton Gym in September and Los Angeles gyms are also planned including one in the old Tower Records building. As the Crains article points out, both Bally Total Fitness and Crunch Fitness emerged successfully from Chapter 11 protection in recent years. Shown at right is David Barton himself on the occasion of the gym's toy drive during the holiday season. The NY Post says that Meridian CEO Chuck Grieve will become chairman of David Barton Gyms but that Barton will remain CEO.

Tags: chapter 11, chapter 11 bankruptcy, david barton, david barton gym, fitness centers, gyms

Five Luxury Resorts File For Chapter 11

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Five luxury resorts across the country have been placed into Chapter 11 by an investor group led by hedge fund Paulson & Co. The resorts were group of holdings formerly known as CNL Hotels & Resorts Inc. The five are the Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa in Phoenix, Arizona; the Doral golf resort in Miami, Florida; La Quinta in Palm Springs, California; the Claremont in Berkeley, California; and the Grand Wailea Resort Hotel & Spa in Maui, Hawaii.

The Doral, shown at right, is famous for its golf course known as the Blue Monster and hosts an annual PGA Tour event. The Claremont Hotel Club & Spa has been around for nearly a century and was once a residential hotel, convention hall and concert venue for Louis Armstrong and others. Now it is a luxury resort in the hills outside of San Francisco with a 20,000-square-foot spa. La Quinta Resort & Club has 45-acres grounds, 41 pool and five world class championship golf courses.

It will be business as usual for all resorts involved. The five resorts and their affiliates listed assets of $2.2 billion and debts of $1.9 billion in court papers. Paulson is offering the properties a $30 million bankruptcy loan to keep going. Each of the resorts is managed by a third party operator.

Tags: chapter 11, chapter 11 bankruptcy, claremont resort, doral, la quinta

Siena Hotel Could Reopen In Reno

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

Earlier this year, the Siena Hotel Casino in Reno, Nevada filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy and eventually closed its doors. But the hotel could be primed to return. This week it was sold at auction for $3.9 million to a group of investors who plan to reopen it under the same name. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Gregg Zive approved the sale of the Siena Hotel Spa Casino to Grand Siena LCC which beat out two other bidders, Stratus West and Northern Nevada Assets. The Reno Gazette-Journal quotes one of the new owners Jay Meilstrup, who says that the hotel is primed for a comeback. The resort will need a gaming license from the Nevada Gaming Commission and a liquor license to be back in business. The business owed about $50 million to creditors and the money from the sale will go to creditors. The buyers bought the hotel free and clear in a deal that covered the property and everything in it as well as the website.

Tags: chapter 11 bankruptcy, hotel bankruptcies, hotel bankruptcy, reno, reno nevada, siena hotel

Chapter 11 Filed For Halsey Minor's Landmark Hotel

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

More bad news for CNET founder Halsey Minor. We've been watching as he has divested himself of some of his art and real estate and now his long-stalled Landmark Hotel project in Charlottesville, Virginia is in major trouble. Minor Family Hotels, LLC, the official owner of the hotel, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in federal bankruptcy court.

Minor made around $100 million from the sale of his technology company CNET in 2000 but he has spent quite a bit since then. In 2006 he bought a home in the Bel Air area for $20 million. In 2008 he put the home on the market for just $12.9 million and rumors were that much of the home was in disrepair. He eventually cut down the price to $11.4 million. It appears to be still owned by Minor and is not on the market. In 2007 he bought the Koshland mansion in San Francisco, an eight-bedroom mansion built to resemble Marie Antoinette's Le Petit Trianon and was reported to be spending $15 million to fix it up. Fox Ridge Farm, his 205-acre farm near Charlottesville, Virginia faced foreclosure twice but Minor eventually brought the mortgage current avoiding a second public auction in February 2010. The stalled Landmark Hotel project has remained in a state of partial construction for years.

In a press release Minor Family Hotels stated that it filed Chapter 11 "in order to more quickly resolve the burdensome lawsuits that have prevented it from completing construction and putting people back to work." Minor is fighting off a total of eight lawsuits involving the Landmark Hotel, in Georgia and Virginia courts. In the release, Minor says that he remains committed to seeing the project through.

A trial involving Minor, former Landmark developer Lee Danielson, the FDIC and Specialty Finance Group, the real estate financing company that was supposed to lend Minor $23.6 million for the construction of the hotel in 2008 was scheduled for November. Specialty Finance Group's parent company, Atlanta-based Silverton Bank failed in May of last year and was taken over by the FDIC. The Chapter 11 filing means that the trial is on hold. The loan for the Landmark is divided among multiple banks. Documents in the bankruptcy suit show 20 creditors. Some have criticized the Chapter 11 filing as just a stalling tactic and question whether the 100-room boutique hotel project will ever be completed.

Tags: chapter 11, chapter 11 bankruptcy, charlotte, Charlottesville, halsey minor, landmark hotel

Amelia Island Plantation Sold To Omni

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

Omni Hotels & Resorts has picked up the Amelia Island Plantation, a luxury resort located 29 miles north of Jacksonville, Florida. The brand bid $67.1 million for the resort at an auction held on August 23 (beating out other bidders including Starwood Capital). Amelia Island Company filed Chapter 11 late last year. Omni Hotels & Resorts expects to take over ownership and operation of the luxury resort sometime this fall. It has big plans for the resort planning to add approximately 125 additional guest rooms and suites and a new 16,000 square foot ballroom.

The luxury destination island resort is on 1,350 acres surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, green marshlands and the Intracoastal Waterway. The secluded location is designated as a sanctuary by Audubon International as well as a certified Green Lodging Destination. The resort includes the Amelia Inn, with 249 ocean view guest rooms and the Villas of Amelia offering one, two and three bedroom villas. There are 54 holes of golf, a tennis center, spa, pools, a shopping village, fitness center and nine restaurants and bars.

Tags: amelia island plantation, chapter 11 bankruptcy, florida real estate development

Gracious Home Files Chapter 11

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Shopping

Gracious Home, a New York luxury home-goods retailer, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The brand, which began as a hardware store in Manhattan in 1963 had morphed into a brand selling home decor, lighting, children's furniture, kitchen goods and more. The business will continue to operate during the bankruptcy and will be restructuring with the help of new investor, GH Acquisition, an affiliate of Meridian Ventures. The business listed assets and liabilities of $10 million to $50 million in court papers.

The business has six locations in Manhattan as well as an e-commerce website. "We want to assure our customers, our employees, our suppliers and our community that Gracious Home is operating - business as usual," Jordan Smilowitz, President and Chief Operating Officer said in a statement.

Tags: chapter 11 bankruptcy, gracious home, retail, retail sales, retailers

Sea Island Company Files Chapter 11, Plans Sale

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

Since 2008 we've been chronicling Sea Island's financial troubles. The Georgia resort, which once hosted the G8 Summit and has been visited by presidents, celebrities and dignitaries of all sorts, has now filed for bankruptcy, unable to pay back more than $600 million in debt. The company has been owned for six decades by the family of William "Bill" Jones III but is now planning to sell its luxury resorts.The sale includes the Cloister at Sea Island, shown above, which won three Mobil five-star awards in 2009 for the hotel, the Cloister Spa and its restaurant, the Georgian Room.

The economic downturn has meant empty hotel rooms for the luxury enclave which has been struggling with debt since a massive redevelopment and expansion of the resort that cost more than $400 million. The plan calls for the Sea Island Company to sell its four resorts, three golf courses and two private clubs for a total of $197.5 million to a group of investors represented by two private firms. The AP reports that the new owners would be investment managers Oaktree Capital Management of Los Angeles and Avenue Capital Group of New York. Company CEO Bill Jones III will stay in place as top executive but will lose his controlling interest in the resort. The resorts will remain open, keeping around 1,400 workers employed. The Atlanta Journal Constitution stated that the official auction will take place in October with closing by November. The article mentions that some locals are concerned over the the takeover, worried that new owners could change part of the Sea Island magic that has kept people coming to the resort since the late 1920s.

Tags: chapter 11, chapter 11 bankruptcy, georgia real estate, sea island

Jennifer Convertibles Files Chapter 11, Plans Store Closures

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Decor

Furniture brand Jennifer Convertibles filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection over the weekend in New York. The popular seller of affordably priced sofabeds and other furniture listed assets of around $26 million and debts of $46.4 million. Furniture Today reports that the brand has already reached an agreement with its largest creditor, Chinese upholstery producer Haining Mengnu, in order to keep products coming to the company. The terms of the deal require Mengnu to continue to supply the retailer and convert some of the pre-petition debt into common equity of the company. The company plans to continue operations through the reorganization.

Jennifer Chairman and CEO Harley Greenfield told Furniture/Today that the company is making plans to leave the Atlanta, Chicago, Philadelphia and Boston metro area markets as well as the states of Michigan, Florida and North Carolina. A press release stated that "the expected plan of reorganization does not contemplate that there will be any continuing value for the present stockholders of the Company."

Tags: chapter 11, chapter 11 bankruptcy, furniture stores, jennifer convertibles, jennifer furniture, retailers in trouble

Luxury San Diego Hotel Files Chapter 11

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

The Sè San Diego has become the latest luxury hotel to file Chapter 11. The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that 5th Avenue Partners, the owners and operators of the 184-room boutique hotel, filed Chapter 11 to prevent the main lender WestLB AG Bank from appointing a receiver to take over. As of last month, Fifth Avenue Partners owed around $73 million. The hotel's construction loan came due in May 2009 just five months after it opened in late 2008. In 2008 we covered the opening of the hotel and the creation of the West Coast's largest hotel penthouse, a three-floor spread going for $20,000 a night.

It also has 22 unsold condos, the Se Residences, that sit atop the hotel. The hotel has struggled to find its place in San Diego's tourist market but does have a thriving nightclub, Siren, a rooftop pool bar & lounge that is popular with both locals and vacationers. The hotel has received good reviews and was on Condé Nast Traveler's 2009 Hot List. The Union-Tribune reports that in the filing Fifth Avenue said it would make almost $4.7 million over the next 13 weeks with total expenses of around $4.4 million. There are signs that a turnaround in both the hotel-condo and luxury travel markets is coming but the question is whether or not the property can manage its finances well enough to hold on until then.

The hotel remains open for business and is offering a Summer Lovin' package that includes accommodation, a summer facial in Sè Spa, Sè Spa Pedicure featuring OPI Summer Collection Polish, daily breakfast for two ($50 daily credit) and valet parking starting at $429 plus tax.

Tags: chapter 11, chapter 11 bankruptcy, hotels in trouble, se san diego

David Webb Brand Bought In $11 Million Deal

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Jewelry

Around this time last year jewelry company David Webb Inc. filed for Chapter 11. Now the brand has officially exited Chapter 11 after being purchased by a trio of jewelers, Mark Emanuel, Sima Ghadamian and Robert Sadian. All have had extensive experience in the jewelry industry and have worked behind the scenes for other jewelry companies.

National Jeweler reports that the $11 million deal followed a sale hearing held at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of the Southern District of New York in Manhattan on May 20. The sale included $7.5 million in finished goods. Per the terms of the agreement $2.75 million of the sale proceeds will go toward the debtor's secured claim and another $250,000 would go toward the rental charges incurred. The rest of the proceeds will be held in escrow and disbursed only by further court orders. Last year the brand reported assets of $10.3 million and liabilities of $6.9 million. Gross sales for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2008, were $13.2 million but total sales for the coming fiscal year ending June 30, 2009 were under $5 million.

The David Webb brand was founded in 1948 by David Webb and Nina Silberstein, and has been owned since 1975 by the Silberstein family. The brand has two retail locations, a flagship store on Madison Avenue in Manhattan and a small store at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, California. There is also a factory where the brand manufactures its own jewelry. The company has provided jewelry for some of the most legendary jewel connoisseurs in the world including Elizabeth Taylor, The Duchess of Windsor and Princess Grace. David Webb pieces which often feature animals and naturalistic themes remain some of the most collectible pieces in the jewelry world.

Tags: chapter 11, chapter 11 bankruptcy, david webb, jewelry

Rock & Republic Files Chapter 11

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Apparel

Bad news for fashion brand Rock & Republic. The Los Angeles-based company famous for pricey jeans with embellished pockets has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The company plans to continue business as usual and is taking the Chapter 11 opportunity to reorganize and as the LA Times puts it, explore financial relationships, otherwise known as finding friends with deep pockets.

The brand was founded by Michael Ball in 2002. It gained attention for partnering with Victoria Beckham for a line of pricey denim with a crown on the rear. The brand expanded from clothing into sunglasses, handbags and cosmetics but quotes from Geoffrey D. Lurie, the company's newly named chief restructuring officer, indicate that the company will be focusing more on its core apparel and footwear businesses. At the start of 2009 Michael Ball told the AP that "the days of the $300 jeans are gone." Rock & Republic then launched the Limited Edition Recession Collection selling jeans for under $150. They haven't dropped the decadence entirely though, the Crazy B!@#H jeans shown here in Dementia Black sell for $385.

Tags: chapter 11, chapter 11 bankruptcy, denim, jeans, michael ball, rock and republic