jjcollins
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 26, 1999
- Messages
- 1,394
With its mortgage overdue and its shopping center in foreclosure, the partnership that owns The Mercado Mediterranean Village on International Drive has filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy for protection from its creditors.
Owners of the longtime Orlando tourist venue cited nine months of business falloff at the retail and entertainment complex since last September's terrorist attacks chilled the tourist trade in Florida. Now they don't have money to pay the mortgage, and the lender has foreclosed after refusing to renegotiate terms, officials said.
Griffin Expressway II, L.P., doing business as MVO Management, filed the reorganization notice earlier this week in federal bankruptcy court in Orlando. A meeting with creditors has been scheduled for July 29.
"The lender made it difficult for us to operate our business, and we needed some breathing room," said Juan Ramirez, Mercado's general manager. "Once we meet with the judge and attorneys, we believe we'll be able to prove to them if they allow us to do business as usual, we'll be in a better position to meet their demands."
The 160,000-square-foot complex north of the Orange County Convention Center has more than 50 boutique specialty shops and a half-dozen restaurants. Those businesses are expected to stay open while the Mercado property owners reorganize under bankruptcy protection.
The Mercado's well-known tenants include the Titanic -- Ship of Dreams exhibition. Hard Rock Cafe plans to open a rock memorabilia museum there this fall.
Mercado may get another boost in the form of a new upscale nightclub -- The Vangarde Room -- which is being planned for the space formerly occupied by Blazing Pianos, a piano bar that closed two years ago. Entertainment executive Robert Fischetti is trying to raise financing for the Vangarde project.
But Mercado has lost ground in recent years as the competition has intensified on International Drive. The arrival four years ago of Pointe Orlando, a retail-entertainment venue closer to the convention center, has provided particularly strong competition.
Everyone on the tourist strip, however, has been hurt by the downturn in travel, said Ramirez of Mercado.
"All the centers on I-Drive cater to the conventioneers, and the fact is there's just not as much convention business these days as it used to be," he said.
Merchants at Mercado said they suspected the owners were having financial woes, but nobody knew the extent of the problems.
"We just hope they'll come out of this restructuring," said Steve Smith, an assistant manager at the Butcher Shop Steak House. "There has never been any indication that they're closing down. So our morale is holding up OK right now. We still have plenty of customers coming in the doors."
Mercado is not alone in its troubles, said James H. Pope, a principal in Morris Architects, an Orlando firm that designs retail centers.
"It has clearly been a tough year for retail," he said. "There are a lot of properties out there that are struggling. Many of them are typically older properties that need new tenants, renovations and repositioning so they can compete better."
jj.......
Owners of the longtime Orlando tourist venue cited nine months of business falloff at the retail and entertainment complex since last September's terrorist attacks chilled the tourist trade in Florida. Now they don't have money to pay the mortgage, and the lender has foreclosed after refusing to renegotiate terms, officials said.
Griffin Expressway II, L.P., doing business as MVO Management, filed the reorganization notice earlier this week in federal bankruptcy court in Orlando. A meeting with creditors has been scheduled for July 29.
"The lender made it difficult for us to operate our business, and we needed some breathing room," said Juan Ramirez, Mercado's general manager. "Once we meet with the judge and attorneys, we believe we'll be able to prove to them if they allow us to do business as usual, we'll be in a better position to meet their demands."
The 160,000-square-foot complex north of the Orange County Convention Center has more than 50 boutique specialty shops and a half-dozen restaurants. Those businesses are expected to stay open while the Mercado property owners reorganize under bankruptcy protection.
The Mercado's well-known tenants include the Titanic -- Ship of Dreams exhibition. Hard Rock Cafe plans to open a rock memorabilia museum there this fall.
Mercado may get another boost in the form of a new upscale nightclub -- The Vangarde Room -- which is being planned for the space formerly occupied by Blazing Pianos, a piano bar that closed two years ago. Entertainment executive Robert Fischetti is trying to raise financing for the Vangarde project.
But Mercado has lost ground in recent years as the competition has intensified on International Drive. The arrival four years ago of Pointe Orlando, a retail-entertainment venue closer to the convention center, has provided particularly strong competition.
Everyone on the tourist strip, however, has been hurt by the downturn in travel, said Ramirez of Mercado.
"All the centers on I-Drive cater to the conventioneers, and the fact is there's just not as much convention business these days as it used to be," he said.
Merchants at Mercado said they suspected the owners were having financial woes, but nobody knew the extent of the problems.
"We just hope they'll come out of this restructuring," said Steve Smith, an assistant manager at the Butcher Shop Steak House. "There has never been any indication that they're closing down. So our morale is holding up OK right now. We still have plenty of customers coming in the doors."
Mercado is not alone in its troubles, said James H. Pope, a principal in Morris Architects, an Orlando firm that designs retail centers.
"It has clearly been a tough year for retail," he said. "There are a lot of properties out there that are struggling. Many of them are typically older properties that need new tenants, renovations and repositioning so they can compete better."
jj.......
