The crumbling Lone Star Brewery complex has dodged the auction block once again.
Owners of the property who once sought to remake the complex into something reminiscent of the Pearl have filed for bankruptcy. In doing so, the investment group averted its sale at a foreclosure auction that was set for Tuesday.
Documents filed in federal court state that Lone Star Brewery Development, a subsidiary of Houston-based Parkview Capital Credit, is seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
The group reported having just over $30 cash on hand and owing its major creditors, BridgeInvest of Miami and Princeton Capital Corporation of Massachusetts, more than $27 million.
The petition also states the 35-acre property on Lone Star Boulevard in Southtown is valued at $30 million.
Attorney Thomas Rice, who represents Lone Star Brewery Development, said Tuesday the bankruptcy filing is meant to give the owners a chance to look at options to refinance the debt. “My perception is they are going to go out and find financing to replace the lender,” Rice said.
But Rice was unsure whether the owners intend to keep the property or sell, and he declined to comment on whether there were any interested buyers.
Parkview Capital Credit acquired the Lone Star complex in 2017 and entered into a partnership with Aqualand Development of San Marcos and the national retail developer CBL & Associates Properties to remake the brewery into a $300 million development featuring residential, entertainment, and office space.
But CBL withdrew before work could begin, stalling the project altogether and dashing the hopes of area residents, businesses, and Southside advocates for seeing the plot redeveloped. By November 2017, the owners had defaulted on a $7 million loan and the site was headed for foreclosure auction when the public sale was called off by the lender, NCC Financial.
A month later, NRP Properties sued Lone Star Developers over $550,000 in earnest money the company claimed it was owed after a deal fell through to buy land for an apartment complex at the site. In the bankruptcy petition, NRP is listed among 11 unsecured creditors owed over $1.1 million.
A fire last month heavily damaged a large building at the complex, according to media reports.
Lone Star beer production stopped at the site in 1996. Pabst Brewing Company, which owns the Lone Star and Pearl brands, shuttered the Pearl Brewery in 2001, and Lone Star beer is currently brewed in Fort Worth.
