The landlord of a Dallas continuing care retirement community is pushing back against the community’s plan to climb out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy, calling it pure “fantasy,” according to Bankrupt Company News.
Last week, Intercity Investment Properties asked a Texas bankruptcy court to reject a plan from Northwest Senior Housing Corp., doing business as Edgemere Dallas, according to the media outlet.
Intercity, Edgemere’s landlord, said that Edgemere is engaging in a “campaign of deception” by obscuring facts and creating unrealistic expectations, “promoting a fantasy.” The “grim reality,” according to Intercity, is that Edgemere is “hemorrhaging cash, squandering resources and lacking sufficient funds to operate in Chapter 11.”
Lifespace Communities, which became the sole owner and operator of Edgemere in 2019 after closing on an affiliation with Senior Quality Lifestyles Corp., filed for bankruptcy of Edgemere Dallas in April, citing challenges of the pandemic and a 2021 winter storm. The community also filed a complaint against Intercity, alleging that the landlord “engaged in unprecedented and unlawful activities attempting to destroy Edgemere’s business.”
Northwest Senior then filed a complaint against Intercity and its agent, Kong Capital, for reportedly engaging in “unprecedented and unlawful activities attempting to destroy Edgemere’s business.” Northwest accused Intercity of trying to terminate its 52-year ground lease with Edgemere and “wrongfully retake the property” on which the community sits to repurpose it and “make a windfall profit.”
Intercity’s actions, according to the complaint, endanger the well-being of Edgemere’s 400 residents by resulting in the loss of entrance fee deposits, loss of their homes and the loss of healthcare services, according to the media outlet.
Soon after, Intercity filed a countersuit alleging that “Edgemere misled new residents about its financial situation between 2021 and 2022.”
Aug. 11, Northwest Senior filed a motion requesting an extension, which Intercity Investment called “untethered to legal (or economic) realities,” according to Bankrupt Company News. Intercity called for the Chapter 11 case to be dismissed, saying that Northwest’s plan read “like a Disney fairy tale” and provides Edgemere residents a false sense of security that their deposits are safe.
