Facing a cash crunch after failing to attract as many residents as it had budgeted for, the Amsterdam at Harborside retirement community on Long Island has filed for bankruptcy protection for a second time, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The COVID-19 pandemic hampered efforts to sign up new residents at the not-for-profit retirement community in Port Washington N.Y., pushing the 329-unit facility to default on its municipal bond obligations, according to a declaration filed on Monday by Chief Executive James Davis in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Central Islip, N.Y. The nonprofit stopped making interest payments on its bonds and refunding residents their entrance fees during the pandemic to preserve cash, Davis said. Amsterdam at Harborside previously sought chapter 11 protection in 2014, emerging with more than $200 million in debt that it aims to restructure in its current bankruptcy. The community has come to terms with creditors holding 73% of its tax-exempt revenue bonds on a potential restructuring of the debt, which must be approved in bankruptcy court to take effect. Under the proposed deal, the bondholder group would buy $40 million in new bonds to pay $20.8 million in outstanding entrance-fee refunds and establish required reserve accounts.
