I appreciate it. He was the american dream, started sweeping the floors at an Oldsmobile dealership in '53 and managed to buy it from the owner when he was only 40 years old. Expanded it to olds, honda, mitsubishi, kia, volkswagen and between the city govt using eminent domain and the 2008 crisis it all fell apart. He was a brilliant and funny man who really cared about his employees
It was a combination of eminent domain, bad economy and my father trusting elected democrats to follow through on their word. Basically what happened was he owned 4 city blocks of our downtown area, worth about 15 million. The city decided to reroute a river back to its natural course which went right through the middle of his property. The idea was to create some sort of city park and walking path.
Well he agreed to them paying about 10 mil for the whole thing, but they said "we're really strapped for cash right now, can we give you 2 million and then pay you the rest over the course of 5 years? He agreed.
About two months later they claimed he had broken the contract by not disclosing a set of oil tanks in the back lot (which were installed before he ever even started working there) and then decided that the "environmental cleanup" was his responsibility AND they weren't going to pay the remainder of the money due.
At the same time he'd been forced out of his property, had to buy more and then put up a brand new car dealership building which have to be built to the specs of each manufacturer. So he was 15 million in the hole, with his down payment of 2 already spent. Then the City (we believe) worked with the local bank to call the dealership note early, and without the liquid cash to pay it he lost it all. The city settled with him after he lost it all for 100k, he had lost the finances to do battle with the govt anymore.
That breaks my heart, I'm so sorry. :(
I appreciate it. He was the american dream, started sweeping the floors at an Oldsmobile dealership in '53 and managed to buy it from the owner when he was only 40 years old. Expanded it to olds, honda, mitsubishi, kia, volkswagen and between the city govt using eminent domain and the 2008 crisis it all fell apart. He was a brilliant and funny man who really cared about his employees
I know there was a market crash, but how specifically did his company go bankrupt?
It was a combination of eminent domain, bad economy and my father trusting elected democrats to follow through on their word. Basically what happened was he owned 4 city blocks of our downtown area, worth about 15 million. The city decided to reroute a river back to its natural course which went right through the middle of his property. The idea was to create some sort of city park and walking path.
Well he agreed to them paying about 10 mil for the whole thing, but they said "we're really strapped for cash right now, can we give you 2 million and then pay you the rest over the course of 5 years? He agreed.
About two months later they claimed he had broken the contract by not disclosing a set of oil tanks in the back lot (which were installed before he ever even started working there) and then decided that the "environmental cleanup" was his responsibility AND they weren't going to pay the remainder of the money due.
At the same time he'd been forced out of his property, had to buy more and then put up a brand new car dealership building which have to be built to the specs of each manufacturer. So he was 15 million in the hole, with his down payment of 2 already spent. Then the City (we believe) worked with the local bank to call the dealership note early, and without the liquid cash to pay it he lost it all. The city settled with him after he lost it all for 100k, he had lost the finances to do battle with the govt anymore.