Bushnell Regency files Chapter 11 By Greg Bordonaro
gbordonaro@HartfordBusiness.com
Yesterday
Bushnell Regency, the company that owns a majority of the condo units in downtown Hartford's Bushnell on the Park, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy today, more than a year after it ceased payments on the property.
Typically, a company files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy to shield itself from creditors while it works out a court-approved reorganization plan.
Bushnell Regency owns 129 condominium units within the 180-unit complex at 100 Wells St., which it uses for rental apartments and office space.
The company has $8.8 million in assets, and $10.7 million in liabilities, court documents show.
Thomas Farrell, a lawyer representing Bushnell Regency, declined to comment on the case.
Bushnell Regency has been facing a host of legal problems over the last year. It started in April, when the company's property sank into foreclosure, after it failed to make mortgage payments since November 2008.
Bushnell Regency had until today to pay Wells Fargo Co. $9.8 million in order to reclaim the property, or they risked losing control of it.
Additionally, earlier this month, nearly a dozen condo owners, whose properties aren't part of the foreclosure, filed suit against Bushnell Regency, alleging they have violated state condo laws.
The suit alleges that the principals of Bushnell Regency, including Michael Jaffe, have repeatedly refused to provide financial records to association members, and failed to collect dues or make necessary repairs to the building.
The individual condo owners want a receiver to take temporary control of the association so they can get a true assessment of its financial health, the complaint said.
It's not clear how that lawsuit or the foreclosure case will be impacted by the bankruptcy filing.
The Bushnell on the Park property, constructed in 1978, was once owned by the scandal-plagued Colonial Realty, but in the wake of that company's collapse in the early 1990s, it was sold to Aspen Real Estate for $2.2 million. In 2002, Bushnell Regency bought the property for $15.6 million, and took out a $12.7 million mortgage, city records show.
