A bankruptcy court judge last week granted a motion to put Gold Mountain Enterprises LLC into Chap. 11 bankruptcy, a move that could speed up the timetable for the sale of the development company’s Ventura Boulevard property in Encino. With the order, Gold Mountain will now be required to present a plan for reorganization that is likely to include selling off some of its assets in order to pay creditors. A timetable for that plan will be determined at a hearing scheduled to take place at United States Bankruptcy Court in Woodland Hills on March 8. In Chap. 11 bankruptcy proceedings, assets are typically used to pay off outstanding debts so that the debtor can resume operations. Typically, it is the debtor that petitions for such protection. In a somewhat unusual move, Gold Mountain was forced into involuntary bankruptcy by some of its creditors, including business partner Samson Investment Company of Nevada after one of the lenders on the property threatened to foreclose on a loan. Attempts by Gold Mountain to delay the Chap. 11 proceedings failed to win the support of the court. And now, with the bankruptcy proceeding, the parties involved will have to hammer out a plan to use the company’s assets to pay its debts. That plan is likely to include the sale of a 1.7 acre site at 16704 Ventura Boulevard which Gold Mountain succeeded in entitling for a mixed use, residential and retail project more than a year ago. Although the property has been listed for sale since it was entitled, no deal has been forthcoming, nor has Gold Mountain moved to develop the property on its own. “The bankruptcy process provides for an efficient and expeditious means to resolve certain legal issues and perhaps to sell the real property,” said Joseph A. Eisenberg, a partner with Jeffer Mangels Butler & Marmaro LLP, who is representing Gold Mountain. In earlier testimony, another attorney who requested that he be appointed to represent Gold Mountain said that the company had several offers on the Encino property, including an offer of $9.1 million with contingencies and letters of intent at more than $10 million from other prospective buyers. It is believed that the property was initially listed for sale at $12.5 million. Eisenberg confirmed that several offers had been received, but he would not elaborate on the dollar amount. “They’re being evaluated now,” Eisenberg said. “The business decision will be made as to which of those offers is the highest and best offer. There will be a petition filed with the bankruptcy court for approval to consummate a transaction, and we expect that will occur very quickly.”
