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Cracks are starting to form in the All Year Management real estate empire after part of its apartment development in a hipster Brooklyn neighborhood filed for bankruptcy, Bloomberg News reported. Evergreen Gardens Mezz LLC, controlled by All Year, sought chapter 11 protection on Monday in the Southern District of New York, according to a petition, listing assets and liabilities of $50 million to $100 million. The debtor is part of the 900-unit Denizen apartment complex, a millennial haven in Bushwick, Brooklyn, developed on the former site of the Rheingold Brewery. Evergreen Gardens was part of the New York City affordable housing lottery, offering 183 units, with a 1-bedroom priced at just over $1,000 per month. Amenities at the award-winning complex include a beer and wine brewery, co-working space, rock climbing and a swimming pool, according to the website. The bankruptcy follows a tough year for All Year Management, which saw the pandemic unravel efforts to manage its web of debt that started running into trouble in 2018, according to the Commercial Observer. All Year, founded by Yoel Goldman and currently run by chief restructuring officer Joel Biran, was started in 2007 and has grown to own more than 150 buildings in gentrifying parts of Brooklyn, according to the Observer and Who Owns What, a website that aggregates New York real estate data.

The Williamsburg Hotel in Brooklyn filed for bankruptcy as the effects from the pandemic continue to roll through the hospitality industry, Bloomberg News reported. 96 Wythe Acquisition LLC, the entity that owns the hotel backed by Heritage Equity Partners, listed assets and liabilities of $50 million to $100 million in its chapter 11 petition filed in White Plains, New York. The boutique hotel is located in an area of Brooklyn which surged in popularity and rapidly gentrified over the last decade, offering views of Manhattan and some of the best restaurants and shopping in the borough. Benefit Street Partners, the credit firm owned by Franklin Templeton, is one of its largest creditors with a $68 million disputed claim, according to bankruptcy papers. The Williamsburg Hotel is the latest Heritage property to restructure, with 232 Seigel Acquisition LLC, a hotel development in Bushwick, seeking bankruptcy last year. Heritage Equity Partners, led by Toby Moskovits, owns a mix of residential and office projects in Brooklyn.

Solstice Marketing Concepts has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The company, which described itself as the second-largest retailer of sunglasses in the U.S., said it plans to reorganize and emerge from bankruptcy as a going concern, ChainStorage.com reported. Solstice operates 66 stores along with an e-commerce site. The retailer reported that its retail store business has been significantly impacted by COVID-19. As a result of mandatory store closures in key markets and stay-at-home orders throughout the country, Solstice’s retail sales during the pandemic have been more than 50% lower than 2019 with limited relief to compensate for stores being closed and shoppers afraid or unable to shop. Solstice is seeking financing upon bankruptcy court approval to fund ongoing operations during the restructuring process. The company has retained Morgan, Lewis & Bockius L.L.P. as its legal counsel, RCS Real Estate Advisors to advise on all store leases, and KCP Advisory Group LLC’s Jacen Dinoff as chief restructuring officer. 

The owner of a lavish hotel development near the site of Coachella, the famous California music festival, has filed for bankruptcy after lawsuits and delays stymied its plans, Bloomberg News reported. Glenroy Coachella LLC, which owns the Hotel Indigo development, sought chapter 11 protection yesterday in Los Angeles, according to a bankruptcy petition. The entity listed assets of $50 million to $100 million and liabilities of $10 million to $50 million. The bankruptcy filing comes after Stuart Rubin, manager of the project, faced a lawsuit from his business partner, Gary Stiffelman, for $50 million amid allegations of “incompetence and fraud,” according to the Palm Springs Desert Sun. The lawsuit alleged that the development spent two separate budgets of $25 million. Hotel Indigo, a division of InterContinental Hotels Group Plc, doesn’t list the Coachella location among its current properties. Construction on the project began in early 2017 under the guidance of Rubin’s son, Joseph, and was met with delays almost immediately, according to the Stiffelman lawsuit. The project was supposed to be completed in time for the 2018 edition of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, according to the lawsuit. Hotel Indigo Coachella was billed as a luxe, 35-acre resort close to the festival grounds, complete with a DJ stage, catwalk, 10,000-square-foot (3,049 square meter) pool, casitas and 250 guest rooms, according to a 2018 article from the Los Angeles Times.

Country Fresh Holding Co., a supplier of fresh-cut fruits and vegetables and ready-to-go meals, has filed for bankruptcy and is planning to sell all or most of its assets in the U.S. and Canada after pressures arising from the coronavirus pandemic, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The Woodlands, Texas-based Country Fresh, part of the Fresh Food Group, has named private-equity firm Stellex Capital Management LLC as the lead bidder for most of its assets after filing for chapter 11 protection on Monday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston. Three other affiliates in Canada are expected to also file proceedings under Canada’s equivalent of chapter 11, according to court papers. The proposed sale, subject to higher offers, would put Stellex in control of the company’s U.S. and Canadian assets out of bankruptcy, with the exception of a facility in Vancouver and its associated operations, in exchange for $30 million in cash and $25 million in secured debt. Stellex will roll those assets into a to-be-formed company while assuming certain liabilities, court papers said. The Fresh Food Group began in 1999 with the inception of Country Fresh LLC. Initially, the company focused on providing fresh-cut fruit and vegetables in a variety of blends, sizes, and packaging options, according to court papers.

Chicago’s Mercy Hospital and Medical Center, the oldest chartered hospital in the city, has had financial problems since the 1990s, culminating in a bankruptcy filing Wednesday, Bloomberg News reported. Its story is emblematic of the challenges facing its patients and a large swathe of U.S. hospitals also struggling to survive. Mercy, a fixture on Chicago’s South Side, takes on sicker people than some of its competitors, and many of its patients lack private insurance that reimburses at higher rates. It’s also suffered as more treatment moves outside hospitals. Mercy sought court protection after Illinois health officials rejected a plan to close the hospital and replace it with an outpatient center. Even before the pandemic slammed hospitals, forcing them to pay up for protective equipment and cancel many profitable elective procedures, the divide between centers like Mercy and richer facilities was widening. “Hospitals in surrounding areas have made investments in outpatient services, which, along with new and updated facilities, allowed them to dominate positive consumer opinions in the market and siphon off commercial patients, Medicare patients and outpatients,” Chief Executive Officer Carol Garikes Schneider, who’s run the hospital since 2013, said in a court filing on Thursday. Felicia Gerber Perlman, who co-heads the bankruptcy and restructuring group at law firm McDermott Will & Emery in Chicago and isn’t involved in the case, said Mercy’s bankruptcy could herald a wave of similar filings among providers in lower-income, urban areas. Those hospitals share some challenges with rural facilities that have seen revenues and patient bases shrink. Mercy’s patients suffer “disproportionately” from chronic diseases that would benefit from early detection and monitoring in an outpatient setting, Schneider said in the filing that detailed years-long efforts to save the institution.

Offshore drilling rig contractor Seadrill has filed for bankruptcy protection at a U.S. court, it said on Wednesday, the second time in four years the company has entered into a chapter 11 restructuring, Reuters reported. The Oslo-listed group controlled by Norwegian-born billionaire John Fredriksen returned to court along with several subsidiaries after failing to win consent from bank lenders to postpone payments on $5.7 billion of debts. Its total debts and liabilities stood at $7.3 billion at the end of the third quarter of 2020. “This announcement marks the start of the court supervised process that will create a company that is financially sustainable for the long term,” Chief Executive Stuart Jackson said in a statement.

Mercy Hospital and Medical Centers filed for chapter 11 protection yesterday just months before the historic Bronzeville, Ill., hospital is expected to shutter its doors for good, the Chicago Sun Times reported. Mercy, which is owned by Trinity Health, still plans to cease operations of all its departments — other than basic emergency services — May 31. The controversial hospital closure is on the agenda for the Illinois Health Facilities & Services Review Board meeting on Mar. 16. In a statement, Mercy, the city’s first hospital, said that it was losing staff and experiencing “mounting financial losses” which challenged its ability to maintain a safe environment. The hospital lost more than $30.2 million in the first six months of the fiscal year, averaging about $5 million per month, the statement said. In debt of more than $303.2 million over the last seven fiscal years, the hospital said a minimum capital investment of over $100 million was needed for it to safely carry on its services. The chapter 11 bankruptcy filing news comes two weeks after a state review board rejected Trinity Health’s proposal to open an urgent care and diagnostic center on the South Side. The same board unanimously rejected a plan in December to close Mercy.

Belk today reaffirmed that it expects to complete its financial restructuring through an expedited "pre-packaged, one-day" reorganization, according to a press release. The company expects to file for chapter 11 on February 24, 2021, and anticipates that the confirmation hearing to approve the restructuring will be held on the same day, at 2:00 p.m. Central Time. Lenders holding 99% of Belk's first lien term loan and 100% of Belk's second lien term loan have now entered into the previously announced Restructuring Support Agreement (the "RSA"), evidencing near unanimous term loan lender support for Belk's "one-day" reorganization. The RSA enables Belk to raise $225 million of new capital, significantly reduce debt by approximately $450 million, and extend maturities on all term loans to July 2025. Belk plans to continue normal operations throughout its financial restructuring. Under the RSA, suppliers will be unimpaired and will continue to be paid in the ordinary course for all goods and services provided to the company. Under the terms of the RSA, Sycamore Partners will retain majority control of Belk. Belk has secured financing commitments for $225 million in new capital from Sycamore Partners, leading global investment firms KKR and Blackstone Credit, and certain existing first lien term lenders. Belk has also secured an extension of the early consent deadline for additional lenders to provide commitments for the $225 million of new capital. The commitment deadline has been extended to 4:00 p.m. Central Time on February 11, 2021, although additional commitments are not required for successful completion of the restructuring. Members of an ad hoc crossover lender group led by KKR Credit and Blackstone Credit and other participating lenders will acquire a minority ownership in Belk.

Seeking an end-run around an investigation by the New York attorney general, the National Rifle Association said Friday that it was declaring bankruptcy and would reincorporate in Texas, the New York Times reported. The group’s effort to circumvent New York’s legal jurisdiction raised immediate questions from Letitia James, the New York attorney general and a Democrat, who is seeking to use her regulatory authority to dissolve the N.R.A. She has been conducting an investigation into corruption at the gun group since 2019. “The N.R.A.’s claimed financial status has finally met its moral status: bankrupt,” James said in a statement Friday. “While we review this filing, we will not allow the N.R.A. to use this or any other tactic to evade accountability and my office’s oversight.” James’s investigation has come as the N.R.A. has been racked by infighting and discontent, including the bitter departures of its president, Oliver L. North, and its top lobbyist, Chris Cox. Long the nation’s most powerful gun lobby, the N.R.A. played a diminished role in the 2020 election, hampered by financial woes and a host of legal challenges. Typically, nonprofit groups that are chartered in New York and under investigation are prohibited from relocating their assets during an inquiry; in recent years, the attorney general’s office prevented the Trump Foundation from closing before it had reached the conclusion of an investigation into that organization. The bankruptcy filing could delay the resolution of the attorney general’s case while the matter is litigated in bankruptcy court.