Gold Mountain project could land in trustee's lap.

THE long-idle Gold Mountain development site in Encino has landed at the center of a partnership dispute as one of the lenders on the property threatens foreclosure and other creditors demand payment, or at least, assurances that they will be paid.

Fearing that a foreclosure may be imminent, several creditors have filed a petition to place Gold Mountain Enterprises LLC into an involuntary Chap. 11 proceeding, a move which could result in a forced sale of the parcel through a court-appointed trustee.

Another parcel in West Hollywood is also involved in the dispute, which is pitting the two managing members of the development company against one another.

Mike Minder, a principal of Samson Investment Company of Nevada, which is also one of the Gold Mountain creditors, and Rene Bernasconi, a principal of RCB Holdings Corp. formed Gold Mountain a number of years ago to, among other things, develop a 1.7 acre site at 16704 Ventura Boulevard in Encino.

Gold Mountain acquired the property and spent two years getting entitlements for a mixed use development containing 125 apartment units and 16,000 square feet of commercial space before putting the parcel up for sale about a year ago.

50 percent vole 

According to statements made by an attorney for Samson at a preliminary hearing on the involuntary petition held last week at U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Woodland Hills, Samson owns 60 percent of the development and RCB Holdings Corp. owns 40 percent. But Minder and Bernasconi each have a 50 percent vote over the property.

"Disputes have arisen over how to manage it," Nellwyn W. Voorhies, an attorney at Levene, Neale, Bender, Rankin & Brill LLP, which represents Samson, told the court. "What we have right now is a stalemate on certain issues."

Specifically what those issues are is not clear.

But at the hearing, it became evident that the partners were having a difficult time agreeing on more than the management of the parcels.

At the hearing, an attorney seeking to represent Gold Mountain noted for the record that the managing members had not reached agreement on whether to hire him, and he recited a long list of credentials in support of his bid for the job.

"The objective of this LLC is to sell two valuable pieces of property, one in Encino and one in West Hollywood," said Jerome S. Cohen, the attorney seeking to represent Gold Mountain. "We want to get there as expeditiously as possible."

Cohen said Gold Mountain has an offer of $9.1 million with contingencies from one buyer and letters of intent at more than $10 million from other prospective buyers on the Encino property.

"We're 75 percent of the way toward completion of the sale of these properties," Cohen told the court. "Fatigue set in on the managing member of Samson, causing it to file this involuntary."

But the attorney representing the creditors who filed the petition seeking to place Gold Mountain into Chap. 11 bankruptcy indicated that impatience was not the determining factor in the filing.

"The reason I filed the involuntary is because there was a looming foreclosure sale," said Steven T. Gubner, an attorney with Ezra/Brutzkus/Gubner LLP. "My clients were owed money from the company, and the company's ability to satisfy its obligations after a foreclosure sale would have been diminished."

In July, a secured creditor notified Gold Mountain that the property was in default with more than $5.7 million owing. A trustee's sale scheduled to he held on November 29, was stayed by the involuntary Chap. 11 petition.

Gubner represents creditors holding unsecured debt of just over $300,000, the petition states.

Spencer P. Scheer, an attorney at Scheer & Imfeld LLP, who represents another lender in the matter, declined to discuss the details of the amount owing to that creditor or whether those payments are in default.

"Ultimately what the client wants to see is these properties sold or developed so their loans are paid off," Scheer told the Business Journal. "Even though my client didn't trigger the involuntary, they still have an interest in getting this resolved so they don't sit here forever with debt accruing."

Bernasconi, who attended the hearing, declined to comment for this story.

Minder did not attend the bearing.

Without any agreement on the part of the petitioners, Judge Kathleen T. Lax made clear to the gaggle of lawyers present that she was inclined to refer the matter to a trustee, who would then sell the properties and distribute the proceeds to the creditors.

However, she conceded to a delay to allow the managing members to work out their dispute privately and settle their affairs with their creditors, and she set a hearing date for Jan. 31.

"What I will give you is an opportunity to solve your problems consensually," Lax said.