The 2/7/25 bankruptcy update hearing for Reno City Center added some confusion and a possible extended timeline when attorneys for Beavor/Bristlecone indicated they are exploring a settlement between Reno City Center LLC and Beavor/Bristlecone as a second path to pay off creditors and emerge from bankrupcy status. The settlement apparently does not involve Delphi, the lender.
It appears the parties involved may try to pursue both plans at once, although procedurally, neither were quite sure how that would work.
Attorney for Reno City Center Elizabeth Fletcher noted that their settlement agreement with Delphi hasn't changed as of yet, and that they still must make a payment to Delphi by February 28, or else the full debt is reinstated and Delphi will have the right to foreclose on the property, something nobody wants, as that would seemingly wipe out the chances of unsecured creditors from getting paid.
Reno City Center has a letter of intent from Madison Capital Group to get enough financing to make that payment to Delphi by February 28. Reno City Center attorney Elizabeth Fletcher also mentioned that they have secured a general contractor for the project, ESI, presumably this company, https://esiconstruction.com/ who has signed a lease for space in the building, along with a developer, which was hard to hear on the phone, was either Alquist or Almquist, both are development companies. Since Alquist and ESI are both based in Idaho, I'll go with Alquist lol. https://www.ahlquistdev.com/. They also signed a lease for space in the building.
BUT, in a new twist, lawyers for both Beavor/Bristlecone and Reno City Center mentioned they were in very-initial talks to also pursue a proposed settlement by Beavor/Bristlecone, in which a newly formed entity, CAI Reno Acquisition LLC, would offer $75,000,000 to acquire the property. Since that settlement has nothing to do with Delphi, both parties were unsure how to proceed, procedurally. Fletcher wasn't sure how it would work procedurally with the dual plans, as the original approved plan stated the debtor would make the payment to Delphi by the end of the month.
Attorneys for Beavor/Bristlecone mentioned that their client hasn't had access to the property since 2023, so some due diligence needs to be done to finalize financing.
Reno City Center was open to the idea of giving them that access so they can check out the building.
Beavor submitted their plans as a disclosure statement but it was yet available to the parties involved since it was submitted the morning of this hearing. It wasn't mentioned and is unclear how Beavor would complete the project, since the cost estimates to complete it exceed the $75,000,000 settlement offer to acquire it. I'm assuming that plan would be in the disclosure agreement docs.
Every month that goes by is very expensive for the project, so Fletcher and Beavor/Bristlecone are interested in fast track settlement via mediation or settlement conference.
A continued status conference is set for February 26, 3 pm. Beyond that, I was totally confused as to the timeline of both plans dually moving forward, except that no matter what, the agreement between Reno City Center and their lender still applies for now.
So, it looks like the property will remain dark and no permitted work done for at least a few more months or longer while this gets sorted out. Whatever path gets construction workers back on he job and this project finished the fastest, is the path that I support.
Also I apologize in advance if I got any of these details wrong, everyone was talking at lightning speed.