Damn, that was a late night haunt of mine 35 years ago.The longstanding Pasquale's restaurant is empty
Mickey Shore had been the car audio department of ABC since at least 2002. That was the first and last time I've been in one of those places...
Damn, that was a late night haunt of mine 35 years ago.The longstanding Pasquale's restaurant is empty
That would seem to show a lack of an online marketing presence... inconceivable in 2020 but here we are...TC Talks wrote: ↑Sun Mar 08, 2020 7:45 pmWOHO
A bit of advice: any business who yells at you and has sales every two weeks is probably not going to offer the best experience. That strategy is designed to create "Urgency" so you will buy now.
When I need a couch, I decide length, color etc and go online. Art Van didn't even show up in Google Shopping! How crazy is that?
Pasquale's still packed 'em in, but the kids were no longer kids, and wanted to retire. Sad.
I'd love to see this go down. Many retailers do say "Bring it back if you're not satisfied", but they made no specificationsbrianp48093 wrote: ↑Sun Mar 08, 2020 4:17 pmWell, this would explain why when I had Art Van come out to fix my broken recliner in JANUARY, they had to “order parts” and have been jerking me around ever since. I’d like to bring the chair to the store and throw it through their fucking window.
You're thinking of Discount Tire.brianp48093 wrote: ↑Sun Mar 08, 2020 4:17 pmWell, this would explain why when I had Art Van come out to fix my broken recliner in JANUARY, they had to “order parts” and have been jerking me around ever since. I’d like to bring the chair to the store and throw it through their fucking window.
Big Boy will be taking over Pasquale’s
Main reason used to be to game the Michigan SBT tax. In addition to this use in the Art Van case, you can allocate passive income easier--plus in Michigan very long term leases, longer than 30 years, count as long term capital gains instead of passive income.* (*State dependent)MWmetalhead wrote: ↑Sat Mar 07, 2020 11:50 amThanks for taking the time to share some details, 696.
I'm a little confused, though. Was the structure you explained set up post-sale or was it instead concurrent with the sale to Lee Partners?
I do not quite understand the role of the "in between" entity. Is this a situation where the real estate owner leases the stores/land to the intermediate entity, who in turn subleases the store/land to Art Van Furniture? Art Van Furniture pays rent to the intermediate entity, who in turn pays rent to the real estate owner? If so, my guess is the equity percentages when comparing the intermediate entity to the real estate owner vary somewhat. Perhaps part of the rent paid to the intermediate entity funded dividends to its equity holders?
It's hard for me to envision a scenario where Citi would agree to release 1st lien mortgages from the real estate just from normal course loan amortization. Commercial real estate mortgages placed in the capital markets often have 20 or 25 year amortization schedules, which means very little of the original principal balance would have been repaid by now. That is, of course, unless a bunch of excess cash flow from operations was used to prepay the loan.
Usually, when a company is suffering from financial deterioration, creditors look to increase collateral rights, not decrease them. My guess is the Credit Agreement must have contained some sort of asset coverage test, and that if a certain level of collateral coverage could be demonstrated, collateral deemed excess collateral would be allowed to be released. Any releases of real estate collateral must've occurred when the real estate loan borrower was still in good standing under its Credit Agreement.
If Thomas H. Lee walks away with any type of significant proceeds here, it means the senior secured creditors were all deemed unimpaired.
Let's face it. The family wanted to bring in private equity in 2017 for a reason. They saw the writing on the wall. Unfortunately, private equity's involvement in this case evidently made things worse, not better. The revolving door in the CEO's office and other distractions prevented the Company from overhauling its business model to adapt to modern shopping habits.
Exactly. Their digital marketing strategy was pathetic. I don't even know if they had one. The web site, at least from what I remember a few years ago, in & of itself was decent. However, the retailer seemingly did *very little* to direct traffic to the web site!Art Van didn't even show up in Google Shopping! How crazy is that?
A Borrowing Base reduction means the Company is able to borrow less. Sometimes, it follows a release of collateral, but usually it is caused by a deterioration in the value of existing collateral.A November 2019 adjustment to Art Van's asset-backed loan with Wells Fargo increased that credit line from $60 million to $82.5 million. That loan would lead to the unraveling of the company through liquidation and, now, bankruptcy.
Just two months later, in January, Art Van saw a reduction in its "borrowing base," or the collateral required for the loan.
Now, we all know the identity of the advertising firm responsible for the nauseating TV ads over the years. Perhaps they have perceptual research showing the ads were effective. I personally couldn't stand three-fourths of the Art Van commercials. The Fourth of July and "March Mania" spots were among the worst.The filing contains a list of Art Van's 30 biggest unsecured creditors that are owed more than $60 million. Largest among them is the Sussman Agency, a Southfield-based advertising firm owed more than $7.8 million. In second place is Monroe-based La-Z-Boy Chair Co., owed nearly $5.2 million.
See, not a vulture capital situation at all. Far from it. Thomas H. Lee lost its ass. They are a subordinated creditor at best and a common equity holder at worst. Their entire investment is "out of the money." Granted, we don't know how much of the $550 million purchase price was funded with their money versus senior secured loan proceeds from Wells Fargo.A spokesperson for Thomas H. Lee told The News that investors in the acquisition, including THL, "will lose 100% of their principal investment in the company and never received any dividends or returns of capital from their investments."
I agree with you on this point. Hopefully, the Art Van brand doesn't suffer the same fate as Toys 'R Us.I would be looking at a reboot as a smaller leaner company with a larger drive time between locations. There is a silver lining here for someone.