Earlier this month, some court documents circulating on social media caused a stir, as they appeared to indicate that Parliament House would be put up for auction Nov. 2, 2015.
Filed by Parliament Investors (no relation to Parliament House), the resort’s creditor, the documents were merely part of the process of fulfilling Parliament House’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy agreement.
“The judgment that was just entered does not mean that Parliament House is going to be auctioned or sold at foreclosure any earlier than was previously agreed, which was November,” says bankruptcy attorney Scott Shuker. “It was just dotting the ‘i’ and crossing the ‘t.’”
Shuker says as part of the bankruptcy deal, Parliament House has until November to pay Parliament Investors $3.5 million, which would make good on their outstanding $13 million loan. Nov. 2 is the date that Parliament House would go up for auction should owner Don Granatstein be unable to pay off that $3.5 million, but Shuker says that repayment will not be a problem.
“[Granatstein] has two or three letters of interest to make the loan, and he’s just finalizing them now,” Shuker says. “He still has four or five months, and I don’t have any doubt that he’ll get there.”
Granatstein says everything is up to date and there have been no changes to the agreement.
“Believe me, [Parliament Investors will] be paid out long before Nov. 1,” Granatstein says. “I guarantee it.”
Shuker says filing is a matter of the creditors’ lawyers just being prepared.
“As soon as we hand them a check for $3.5 million, even on the morning of the foreclosure sale, Don keeps Parliament House,” Shuker says. “There is not substantive impact of the judgment.”
Granatstein indicated some bad blood with Ken Johnson, the man behind Parliament Investors, who Granatstein calls “a homophobe.”
“[Johnson is] a jerk,” Granatstein says. “If he can figure out a way to give me a headache, that’s the choice he makes every time.”
Granatstein says he’s anxious to get the loan moved over to a bank lender.
“[Johnson will] be gone forever and we’ll have a normal bank loan,” he says. “I’m getting a line of credit that covers everything we need.”
Parliament House filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy July 25, 2014, and emerged in early March 2015. Once the agreement was reached, Granatstein announced plans to open new locations around the country, to create a gay vacation club for timeshares on the resort property and to renovate the beach area, turning it into a wedding venue.
