Seth Johnson
Three Celebration Pointe companies filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on March 14 in federal court, with more than $165 million in debt.
The companies—Celebration Pointe Holdings LLC, Celebration Pointe Holdings II LLC, and SHD-Celebration Pointe LLC—manage more than 100 acres of mixed-use development just west of Gainesville.
Chapter 11 bankruptcy allows a company to reorganize its finances and differs from Chapter 7 bankruptcy, which involves liquidating assets.
According to filings, the companies have between $100 million and $500 million worth of assets and the same range of debt. The documents for Celebration Pointe Holdings and Celebration Pointe Holdings II list just over $165 million in loans from 11 different transactions.
A few of the loans are listed as disputed. According to the Alachua County Tax Collector, some of the 2022 property taxes for Celebration Pointe, totaling $50,000, have not been paid.
Celebration Pointe did not immediately return a request for comment.
Celebration Pointe hosts several businesses at its plaza, including Bass Pro Shops, Spurrier’s Gridiron Grille and Regal Cinemas—which itself filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2022 and emerged last August.
InfoTech recently put its 65,000-square-foot building at Celebration Pointe up for sale, although it is still occupying the three-story building while the property is on the market.
The county opened the Alachua County Sports and Events Center at Celebration Pointe less than a year ago. Developers used local, state and private dollars to build the center.
“We are aware of [the bankruptcy filings] and are looking into the impact, if any, to the County’s interests, particularly the Alachua County Sports and Event Center,” county spokesperson Mark Sexton said in a written statement. “The entity that operates the Center has not filed for Chapter 11 financial restructuring and our expectation is that normal operations will continue. We will continue to analyze and monitor this situation.”
Last month, Mainstreet reported that Viking Companies, the owner of Celebration Pointe, is under contract to buy West End Golf Course. The purchase is in preparation for the 2025 World Masters Athletics Indoor Championships, which are set to come to Alachua County next year.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated with new information and corrected to note that Infotech is still occupying the building it is selling.
uh, wait a minute, i live out in the sticks and get just about ZERO services from the county, but i pay approximately 5k in county property taxes on a less than 2000 sf residence…
BUT celebration pointe owners pay 50 k on 100+ acres with MILLIONS of buildings and improvements, and they pay a measly 50 k ?
GTFOH, somebody is not paying their fair share, and it ain’t me…
They generate tens of millions of dollars in revenue and sales taxes. They pay a lot of sales taxes out there. Tangible property taxes. The list is endless the burden the county put on small businesses.
We pay around 8,000,my neighbor pays 11,000 another 12000,another 9600 and go on we have 32 people in the association.
They obviously aren’t generating much if they’re filing for bankruptcy.
If they generate so much revenue why are they going bankrupt? Bad management?
If you read it carefully, the article says “some” of the taxes totaling 50K, not all.
It looks like that $50k figure is only an amount that hasn’t been paid yet. Maybe a regularly scheduled payment that was stopped.
it also says some of the Property taxes, meaning the total is likely more than the $50,000 mentioned.
from public records: The bankrupt 3 LLCS have not paid any of their 2023 taxes, due May 31. They owe about $110,000 on parcels they own. In addition, they have been delinquent in years past on almost every parcel and tax certificates were sold to out of town investors. Several parcels did not have the taxes paid for year 2021. Facts.
Likely an after-effect from the Covid years, and high interest rates currently. Bidenomics hasn’t helped either.
They did not pay taxes for 2021 and 2022 on parcel 6820-002-022. (2023 has not been paid but it is not late–yet.)_Tax certificates have been sold. This is the parcel they built the Sports Center on. You got that right. Alachua County paid him $30 million to build a tin building and he has not paid his taxes on that parcel. So much for “But Celebration Pointe generates sooo much tax revenue.” MSDN could do a lot of investigating on this topic.