Tampa- A Tampa video sales and liquidation group is seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection reporting assets of up to $500,000 and liabilities of up to $10 million.
5215 Development Inc. and Phoenix Restructuring Group LLC, both located at 1411 N. West Shore Blvd., filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court’s Middle District of Florida Thursday. The companies operate Video One Liquidators, Video Pursuit, Video Den, West Coast Video, Bradley Video and Video Smith in Virginia, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Ohio, according to court documents.
5215 Development listed unsecured claims of $1.6 million from its top 20 creditors and Phoenix Restructuring listed $2 million worth, although both companies shared about $1.5 million in claims including $1.1 million to Rentrak Corp. of Portland, Ore.; $328,000 to VPD of Charlotte, N.C.; and $14,000 to Baker & Taylor of Charlotte for DVD purchases.
Both companies remained below the public radar, except Phoenix Restructuring made some waves in trade publications in March 2001 when it purchased the 56 video stores from West Coast Entertainment in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Ohio and Massachusetts. West Coast, which had already sold 77 stores to the debtor for $2.5 million in January of that year, completed the sale after it became clear that a proposed merger with another video rental chain wouldn’t go through.
Mark Jasperson, the chief executive of 5215 and Phoenix Restructuring, told trade publication Video Business at the time that he had been called by West Coast’s secured lender and told that the company was in a financial crisis and was being prepared to be shut down “within hours.” Jasperson said he could use video inventory acquired through its liquidation arm to bolster product in the new stores.
An after-hours call to attorney Buddy Ford, who is representing 5215 Development and Phoenix Restructuring in the proceeding, has yet to be returned.
