Orlando – Within ten days, Parliament House will have refinanced a $13 million debt.
That’s according to Orlando bankruptcy attorney Scott Shuker, who has been working with the iconic gay nightclub since 2014. When Parliament House came out of bankruptcy in the spring, the deal stated they’d have until Nov. 2 to refinance the $13 million first mortgage at $3.5 million, as reported by Watermark in August.
“That was the deal then, that’s the deal now,” he says.
Now, they have a commitment from a lender to put up those funds, which would allow Parliament House to pay off Ken Johnson, the man behind Parliament Investors.
“We have a lender willing to come in with the $3.5 million to pay Mr. Johnson, and then we’ll have a nice new mortgage and be good to go,” Shuker says. “We got a commitment letter to get this new loan and are closing within 10 days.”
Shuker says he can’t disclose the name of the new lender but is in communication with the lender’s attorney right now, because “there’s a lot to do” to make the Nov. 2 deadline.
Back in August, 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. Watermark reported that according to Shuker, the court documents were part of the process of fulfilling Parliament House’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy agreement.
A Sept. 29 Orlando Sentinel report apparently based on those same documents claimed that a foreclosure auction was imminent, and Shuker was quoted in the story, but he says nothing has changed, and the judgment was just “dotting the ‘i’ and crossing the ‘t.'”
The November deadline is approaching, but Shuker says he remains confident the refinance will go through, which would stave off the auction.
“[The Sentinel] reported on something that’s not news,” he says. “I think it was just for the headlines. We knew [the auction date] was being set back in March.”
