Celebration Pointe's $50 million bankruptcy plan
Hello from Gainesville, Florida. It's Monday, July 20, and you're listening to StreetSmart. I'm Lillian Hamman. StreetSmart is a weekly podcast for Mainstreet Daily News where we cover local news that informs, engages, and inspires listeners like you. A big thanks to our sponsor, Forest Meadows Funeral Home, where compassion meets experience.
Lillian Hamman:Cremations, Cremations, funerals, and memorials all in one trusted place. With exceptional care and personal attention, Forest Meadows is here to honor every life with care. Here's the top headlines we're rounding up. The Alachua County Sheriff warned residents of rising scams estimated to cost $8 million locally. Scammers are increasingly using AI to manipulate people.
Lillian Hamman:The sheriff's office said the key to solving cases is immediate reporting by victims. The city of Gainesville restricted its millage rate options last week and aims to increase its fire assessment to fill the budget gap. The city said the budget scenarios prepared staff for any future revenue reductions from November's homestead exemption referendum. A regional fire training facility is coming to Newberry next year as the city commission approved $600,000 for the land. Staff said the project has garnered interest from Levy, Gilchrist, and Dixie counties and will position the city for a new fire station on its West side.
Lillian Hamman:The city of Alachua faces legal pushback on a land use vote for the farmland's development, which is expected to bring a Walmart along US Highway 441. Outside council is advising the city to follow its charter for two public hearings with land use changes as opposed to the single hearing suggested by staff. Interested in earning an extra buck during Gator sports season? Parkey is a new app helping property owners list their available parking spaces for major events. Ticket holders can book parking in advance directly from their phones.
Lillian Hamman:For more information on any of these stories, visit mainstreetdailynews.com or click on the link in the show notes. Thanks to our generous members, our journalism stays free for the whole community with no pay Wall. Thanks for joining us here on StreetSmart. I'm Lillian Hamman, and my cohost today, Seth Johnson, and I got to get an exclusive experience Little Lake Santa Fe Preserve opened by the county last week.
Seth Johnson:Yeah. I don't know how exclusive it was. The county opened the preserve the day before, and we went on Saturday morning to check it out and let people know what to expect with the one mile loop trail, which we clocked at point eight when we were running it. And there's a bench in the back and just kind of a typical East Alachua County preserve there with a dirt and pine needle and wood chips trail kind of working its way around in the loop. And if you want more than just the mile of hiking, there's also the Lake Alto Preserves that are really close by along the same road that you could also check out.
Lillian Hamman:Yeah. That's one of my favorite things about Alachua County is all the trails and you can be in the city and around the university or you can just kinda go out and escape and get your nature fix.
Seth Johnson:And if you had your nature fix and you wanna get a different type of fix, you could head over to Celebration Pointe.
Lillian Hamman:You could do that. Yes. That would be the shopping fix. Seth, you've kind of covered a lot of different things Celebration Pointe related. Last, you know, year or so, there's been some bankruptcy coverage and you recently had an update on that.
Lillian Hamman:What was going on over there?
Seth Johnson:Yeah. The bankruptcy started, I think we're in the twenty seventh month now. And the attorney, bankruptcy attorney for the three Celebration Pointe companies that are kind of all filed together for bankruptcy anticipated that it was last nine months. That's what we told Main Street at the time. But it's been a very complicated proceeding with a lot of different entities involved and a lot of money at stake.
Seth Johnson:That attorney filed a third amended liquidation plan in June ahead of a non evidentiary hearing scheduled for July 14. And just that plan that got submitted to the courts had over a 100 different email addresses on it that it was sent to as different parties are keeping track of this and their attorneys are monitoring it in their interest. I mean, Alachua County itself hired an outside law firm to monitor the situation so that the county wasn't left holding the bag in case something was happening. And their attorney said, you know, we monitor the typical bankruptcy cases but this one is not that.
Lillian Hamman:Yeah. With all those different kinds of businesses over there, some renting, some buying, some owned by the county. There's a lot of moving parts with Celebration Pointe.
Seth Johnson:Yeah. Most of the businesses you see, they're just leasing from the Celebration Pointe companies. But there are a couple different types of formats. Alachua County owns the land underneath its sports and events center and that's been a different approach. So the county has not been directly involved in the bankruptcy proceedings, but there were some property taxes that hadn't been paid.
Seth Johnson:So it's mostly involved on that side of things. The county also ended its contract with Viking Companies to manage its Sports and Events Center. And Viking Companies is the owner of the Celebration Pointe holding companies. But to this third amended bankruptcy plan, it anticipates $50 million of new money from Patricia Shively. And she's been one of the primary investors of Celebration Pointe, putting around a $100 million of her own money into it and being a personal guarantee against another $300 million.
Seth Johnson:After the bankruptcy proceeding started, she actually sued Viking companies and her own financial advisors for scamming her and accusing them of fraud for getting her into the Celebration Pointe investments. But the bankruptcy attorney said, really, her infusion of cash for this liquidation plan is the only way it's gonna be able to move forward. And he notes that these settlements, as they're called, are outside the scope of the bankruptcy court. But for the bankruptcy plan to proceed, they're gonna be necessary. And according to the filings, several creditors are on board, but they've still gotta get 13 or 14 different classes of creditors all moving in the same direction in agreement with this plan.
Seth Johnson:And we'll see whether or not Shively is on board with it. The plan notes that the debtor companies and their attorney haven't been taking direction from Shively or from the manager of Viking Companies who had been involved previously.
Lillian Hamman:If this is the third restructuring plan, did the other ones not go through? What what happened there?
Seth Johnson:I'll admit, as a non bankruptcy lawyer, it's a little beyond me, but previous plans never reached completion to kind of end the bankruptcy proceedings. And so they're on the third one now. In that third plan, the attorney does mention that the court So the judge was understandably frustrated, I think is the words he used, at the lack of progress and at the confusing and convoluted previous plans. So it sounds like there have been efforts, they just have not gotten to the finish line. There is a final non evidentiary hearing scheduled for July 29.
Seth Johnson:So that's the next kind of date on the calendar and we'll see where it stretches after that. The creditors are in agreement with this third plan or if not. And the attorney says, if not, the likely next step is gonna be switching from a chapter 11 bankruptcy to a chapter seven bankruptcy, which is kind of an unstructured liquidation that would result. And people would still be, you know, in charge and owning the Celebration Pointe land, but that ownership could switch hands. And we'd have to wait and see where it all shakes out.
Seth Johnson:There's In the meantime, Celebration Pointe continues to be obviously an open shopping retail destination with their restaurants there and the movie theater. There's also the county owned Sports and Events Center, like we mentioned, which continues to bring in events like the World Masters Athletics indoor championships, which will be coming around again next year after holding them last year. And there's also a pickleball showcase coming next month. So things are happening on the site is not affecting kind of the on the ground traffic, but it will affect ownership moving forward and what that looks like.
Lillian Hamman:Seth, theoretically, if Celebration Pointe did close and it became, you know, completely empty, what do you think would happen with it?
Seth Johnson:I think that would make a pretty awesome paintball facility. But realistically, it will be owned by someone, whether it's the creditors who were owed money by Celebration Pointe, in which case, they might try to resell it to someone else who can then open it as a retail destination and earn their money back. And, you know, that entity, whoever buys it, thinks that they can earn revenue over time to cover the cost. It's also a very mixed development because there's some residential there that's not involved in the bankruptcy. Yeah.
Seth Johnson:And there's also the Bass Pro Shop, which is under a different contract from the entities filing for bankruptcy, which is, I think, more of the Promenade area. So I don't think there's much to fear that it's gonna be completely closed and just tumbleweeds, you know, blowing in across the promenade. Yeah. Although, I think that would be kind of cool to walk through. I read a story, actually, not too long ago about kind of some abandoned business sites, these big former IBM buildings that have become a popular destination for people who just like to walk through kind of abandoned facilities, whether amusement parks or otherwise.
Seth Johnson:And so, could be interesting, but I just don't think it's gonna probably end up that way. But we'll see. It's not completely outside of the realm, I suppose.
Lillian Hamman:Still a long ways to go.
Seth Johnson:Yeah. I think that would be pretty far off.
Lillian Hamman:We're going to take a quick break to hear from our sponsor, Forest Meadows, before we get into the news forecast and event segments for the week.
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Lillian Hamman:Now for this week's news forecast. The slow summer continues with two commission meetings of note. The High Spring City Commission will meet on Thursday and hear a presentation of its 2023-2024 audit. The meeting will be held at the Civic Center. The Hawthorne Commission meets tomorrow at 6:30 p.m., and we'll hear updates on its resource center and multipurpose facility.
Seth Johnson:Now for our event segment, covering upcoming family friendly events this weekend. The Gainesville Circuit Center will perform Banjo Buffalo's Wild West revival popping up in Williston and Newberry Friday and Saturday. Audiences can witness gunslingers, trick riders, aerialists, live music, and Native American dancers in a performance designed for all ages. Sherwood Forest is coming to High Springs as Robin Hood takes the High Springs Playhouse Stage at 7 p.m., Friday and Saturday. Experience a fresh take on the classic hail with tickets for the summer youth production ranging from $15 to $17.
Seth Johnson:Families are invited to attend the twenty seventh annual stop the violence back to school rally scheduled for Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon at Santa Fe College's gymnasium. 5,000 filled backpacks will be given away along with other resource options. The Night Mammoth Market at Thawouli will be Saturday from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. It'll feature vintage reselling, custom stained glass art, jewelry, and other wares. Study up on all your wizardry and head to Blackadder Brewing Company at 7 p.m. on Saturday for Harry Potter trivia.
Seth Johnson:Enjoy butterbeer and themed prizes while answering questions from the movies and the books. The summer is quickly coming to an end, but still some events on the horizon before the school bell rings. Harry Potter trivia could be fun. Which house would you be in? Have you do you know?
Seth Johnson:Have you checked?
Lillian Hamman:I think I've taken the test. I think I've fallen into Hufflepuff consistently, which I don't know how I feel about that.
Seth Johnson:I was Ravenclaw when I took it way back in, like, high school. I was never super into Harry Potter. My brother really got the bug though.
Lillian Hamman:Did you watch the movies or just read the books?
Seth Johnson:I I watched most of the movies. I'm not gonna say I've seen a 100% of the movies. I think I've definitely seen enough to count. But I don't know much about Ravenclaw because they don't seem to pop up much in the movies, so I'm at a loss.
Lillian Hamman:Might be time for you to take a field trip down to Universal and learn all about it.
Seth Johnson:I could try some butter beer, but maybe not the next thing on my priority list.
Lillian Hamman:And that's all we've got for this week's StreetSmart podcast brought to you by Mainstreet Daily News and made possible by our generous members. You can access more free local news at mainstreetdailynews.com. We'll be back next week with more stories that matter to you because they take place right here in Alachua County. Take a minute to share StreetSmart and help us continue the work. Our theme music is Sunset's Sonata by Gainesville ska band Now Leaving Space. This episode is a production of MARC Media.
