Negotiated settlements resolve two issues in North Shore Manor bankruptcy case

LOVELAND — Issues remain in the North Shore Manor nursing home bankruptcy case, but the thorny issues that turned Thursday’s hearing contentious were resolved by negotiated agreements today.

Aaron Garber, attorney for North Shore Manor Inc., told Judge Joseph Rosania Jr. at the outset of the continued hearing today that John O’Brien, attorney for Columbine Management Services Inc. and related Columbine companies, was planning to ask for dismissal of his motion to have the court appoint a trustee to run the nursing-home operation.

Rosania didn’t hesitate. He immediately asked O’Brien whether that was true, and when O’Brien confirmed, the judge entered the dismissal into the record.

Garber then said he and O’Brien were close to resolving the North Shore motion to permit majority shareholders to lend money to the operation in order to pay off a note held by Wapello Holdings II LLC, a Columbine entity. He asked for a recess to finish that negotiation; the judge gave the parties two recesses.

In a filing prior to the hearing, Columbine raised limited objections to the loan because, as proposed, North Shore Associates — the owners of the nursing home real estate — would grant a lien on the building and potentially deplete that asset if the new loan could not be repaid from operations.

Robert Wilson, the owner of Columbine, has a 15% ownership interest in both North Shore Manor and North Shore Associates.

Garber reported after the recess that the parties had worked through the issues and reached new terms acceptable to Columbine, North Shore Manor and North Shore Associates.

Loan documents would need to be rewritten; Garber asked for a hearing on May 25 for the court to sign off on the agreement and loan documents.

If approved, Wapello’s loan would be paid off with interest by June 2, and Wapello would no longer be a party to the bankruptcy proceedings.

“Congratulations for getting part of the case resolved,” Rosania said. “There are still a lot of pieces before the court, but this sounds like a fair, negotiated resolution.”

The actions filed in Federal Bankruptcy Court in Denver are North Shore Manor Inc., case number 23-10809, and North Shore Associates LLC, case number 23-10808.

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