Developer Abe Alizadeh, whose fast-food empire collapsed amid the global economic meltdown, is facing new financial pressures.
On Monday, four of Alizadeh's real estate companies filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization with debts of more than $66 million.
The companies are the developers of several shopping centers and an office complex in Roseville, including the Fairway Commons II Shopping Center, Eureka Ridge Plaza and the Stoneview Plaza office complex.
The real estate companies join Alizadeh's restaurant businesses, which were placed under bankruptcy protection in 2008 and 2009.
"He has struggled long and hard to keep the properties fully occupied," said Malcolm Segal, an attorney for Alizadeh. "But the economy hasn't gotten to the point where a business like his can survive."
Filings with the federal Bankruptcy Court in Sacramento list Wells Fargo Bank as the largest creditor, with more than $50 million in loans, followed by Mechanics Bank, which is owed $15 million.
A Chapter 11 reorganization usually allows debtors to continue operating while they restructure their debts.
But ownership of the Roseville properties will likely change hands during this bankruptcy process. Before the bankruptcy filings, Alizadeh had hired the Grubb & Ellis commercial brokerage firm to market the retail and office buildings.
The bankruptcy filings come as the state attorney general's office filed criminal charges against the developer in January, alleging that he failed to pay more than $7 million in state sales and payroll taxes.
Alizadeh pleaded not guilty, but his attorney Segal said the developer hopes to resolve the criminal case by repaying the state.
An Iranian immigrant, Alizadeh came to the United States as a teenager in 1977. He started his career by making tacos and later built up a chain of Jack in the Box franchises and TGI Friday's restaurants.
He later branched out into commercial development and at one time owned dozens of office buildings and shopping centers.
Many of those projects have been abandoned while most of his Jack in the Box restaurants have been sold.
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