GA Keen Realty Advisors, LLC, a subsidiary of Great American Group LLC, a provider of asset disposition, valuation, real estate and appraisal services, successfully solicited and structured a joint venture to fund a $27 million plan of reorganization and more than $25 million for the renovation of the Closter Plaza Shopping Center in Closter, NJ.

According to GA Keen Realty Advisors co-president Harold Bordwin, the 210,000-square-foot Closter Plaza Shopping Center was owned by Bakhtaver A. Irani and Aspi K. Irani. The property had been anchored by Kmart and Stop & Shop for many years before a poorly executed redevelopment plan resulted in lease cancellations and the loss of the supermarket.

The combination of the decreased cash flows from the shopping center, the added costs associated with the development plan, and the illiquidity in the real estate market during the recession, resulted in the Iranis becoming delinquent in the payment of $700,000 in real estate taxes in 2010 and the filing of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy on December 8, 2010 (United States Bankruptcy Court District of New Jersey, Case No. 10-47961).

“This property was a diamond in the rough,” Bordwin said. “However, identifying the right shopping center developers who could satisfy the debtor