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Tenants at Blackhawk Plaza have been notified that its owners have entered into bankruptcy proceedings for the financially distressed property, marking the latest in a series of court actions involving the investment firm that purchased the prominent San Ramon Valley shopping and dining hub in 2020.
Ramanujan Group LLC filed a voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition in federal court for Blackhawk Plaza on March 18, triggering protections against state-level lawsuits and collections activity and allowing the company to retain ownership of the property as it undergoes a financial reorganization under court supervision.
The move means that collections actions from creditors are automatically halted. That includes NanoBanc, which filed a lawsuit in Orange County Superior Court last year alleging that the company had defaulted on a $5 million loan used to purchase the plaza, as well as several local agencies.
Among the top 20 largest unsecured debts owed by Ramanujan Group are fees for the plaza’s essential operating expenses, including utilities and management. The company owes more than $112,500 to PG&E, nearly $57,000 to the East Bay Municipal Utility District and more than $207,000 to the Blackhawk Commercial Owners Association, care of Vierergruppe Management. The southern California management firm is also owed a separate $112,000 debt.
Livermore companies Intec Solutions Inc. and Pacific Signaling System are also among the creditors in that list, with Ramanujan Group owing them debts of nearly $17,000 and more than $15,000 respectively.
The automatic halt in collections actions from the company’s creditors also means that it will retain ownership of the plaza, which had been set to go into receivership following a judge’s order and appointment in the Orange County lawsuit from NanoBanc earlier in the year, which would have allowed the property to be sold.
Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings are a common way of preventing or halting foreclosures, according to Adam Stein-Sapir, a bankruptcy expert at the New York-based investment firm Pioneer Funding Group. He said that he and the company had been observing the case despite not having any personal connections to Blackhawk.
“Filing Chapter 11 buys them time to try to refinance the mortgage or sell the property in a less rushed fashion,” Stein-Sapir said. “It’s still early in the case and nothing else has been filed, but they only have 120 days to file a plan that details how they will emerge from bankruptcy.”
That puts the deadline for Ramanujan’s restructuring plan at June 16.
“This deadline is often extended, but it’s expensive to stay in bankruptcy so some direction of what will happen to the property will become clear in the coming weeks and months,” Stein-Sapir said.
