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Boomerz files for bankruptcy

The bar in Seminole, also facing city fines, seeks to forestall foreclosure.

By ANNE LINDBERG
Published March 18, 2007

Faced with mounting city fines, unpaid property taxes and threatened foreclosures, the owner of Boomerz bar has filed for bankruptcy.

The case, filed March 1 by the Loading Zone Inc., claims the corporation has an estimated $3-million in assets. It is unclear how much the corporation owes, because the amount of liabilities was not listed in the filing. Among the debts are three mortgages on the Boomerz property, 6950 Seminole Blvd., and two parcels in St. Petersburg.

The Chapter 11 bankruptcy was filed to forestall a foreclosure by National Loan Investor, one of the mortgage companies, which had filed a judgment against the Loading Zone . The Loading Zone's creditors include the federal Small Business Administration, the Florida Department of Revenue and the Pinellas County Tax Collector.

Not listed as a creditor is the city of Seminole, which earlier this month took the Loading Zone to a special magistrate's court for code violations at the Boomerz location.

As of today, the Loading Zone/Boomerz owes Seminole a total of $7,350 for fines that have accumulated since Feb. 5. The penalties will continue to mount at the cost of $175 per day until Boomerz complies with a city rule requiring businesses to have a trash bin.

If Boomerz does not get a trash bin and clean the property, the city could seize the property in lieu of payment. But the bankruptcy filing has complicated matters.

The 1.14 acres has an estimated value of $1-million, according to the Pinellas County Property Appraiser's Office. The Pinellas County Tax Collector's Office indicates Boomerz owes $53,659.32 in property taxes, including unpaid taxes dating from 2005.

Boomerz also owes $565.74 in tangible property taxes. Some of that amount is also delinquent, according to county tax records.

Eddie Mlotkowski, the registered agent and president of the Loading Zone Inc., which owns Boomerz, could not be reached for comment. The phone number he gave the city has been disconnected as has a second listing. His attorney, Marshall G. Reissman of St. Petersburg, declined to comment and said he would advise his client to refrain from commenting.

Mlotkowski did not appear at a March 8 hearing on the Seminole matter. He sent a letter saying that he would be unable to attend because "my wife was delayed out of town and I must pick up my son from school ... in St. Pete."

The Boomerz bar manager represented Mlotkowski at the hearing.

Mark Ely, Seminole's community development director, said no representative from Boomerz has contacted the city since the hearing to try working things out.

Boomerz's problems with Seminole began Nov. 6 when Seminole code officers notified the owner that it was violating two city rules - being a public nuisance and failing to obey the city's trash bin ordinance.

"There is an accumulation of garbage, trash on the property," code officer John Marcum wrote in the order to comply. "Obtain a Dumpster from Waste Management as required by code and remove all trash and garbage from the property."

When Boomerz did not comply, the city issued a notice of violation citing the "accumulation of garbage and refuse" and noting that there is no trash bin because of "lack of payment for services." City records indicate Boomerz owes Waste Management about $4,000.

The city gave Boomerz until Jan. 10 to remove all the garbage and to put a trash bin on the property. Boomerz did not clean up and did not get a bin, and a special master signed an order dated Jan. 29 giving the owner seven days to comply.

Again, Boomerz failed to fix things, so on March 8, the special master fined the bar $175 a day retroactive to Feb. 5.

If Boomerz complies, the fines would stop mounting, and the city would have to decide whether to reduce or eliminate the fine. If Boomerz does not comply within 90 days after the order is filed, the city can start foreclosing on the property, which could ultimately end with the city owning the bar. Seminole could then do what it wants with the land.

"The City Council would have to vote to formally commence the foreclosure process," Ely said. "The staff cannot take that action on its own."

Boomerz has long been an irritant to neighbors and city officials.

In June 2005, the bar called a halt to teen hip-hop night after neighbors complained and sheriff's deputies answered calls of gunfire in the bar's vicinity. At that time, sheriff's records showed that between May 23 and June 22 deputies were called to the bar 13 times for complaints that included fighting, battery, disorderly conduct and one report of possession of controlled substances.

[Last modified March 17, 2007, 20:04:04]