The primary developer of Celebration Pointe, Svein Dyrkolbotn, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy last week as the overall company continues through bankruptcy lawsuits along with claims of more than $100 million in fraud.
The personal bankruptcy filing comes 18 months after three companies that form Celebration Pointe, all managed by Viking Companies that Dyrkolbotn leads, initiated bankruptcy proceedings. Celebration Pointe is a shopping and entertainment destination just west of I-75.
In September, VyStar Credit Union, who loaned different entities connected with Dyrkolbotn just over $48 million, filed a motion asking the courts to hire a neutral third party to manage the shopping destination instead of Dyrkolbotn and Viking Companies, a process called receivership.
Celebration Pointe is not the only shopping center in Gainesville facing financial woes. The Oaks Mall, owned by Brookfield Properties, is currently in receivership after declaring its own bankruptcy.
Since the Celebration Pointe proceedings started, lenders have piled on lawsuits to ensure payments—from national banks to Alachua County locals. The Celebration Pointe companies owed more than $165 million when the filing occurred.
A lawyer for Celebration Pointe told Mainstreet that the bankruptcy filing was needed to begin a restructuring plan. He said the plan would last six to nine months.
At least nine lawsuits have been filed in 2025 against the Celebration Pointe Association, Celebration Pointe Holdings, Celebration Pointe Community Development District and other associated entities. Dyrkolbotn has around 18 open lawsuits filed against him, all but three were filed this year.
In June, long-time investor Patricia Shively sued Dyrkolbotn, Viking Companies and her financial advisor for conning her out of $100 million and for convincing her to be a personal guarantee against another $316 million. Shively said she was given false information, taken advantage of and wasn’t told the potential impact of documents that she was signing.
More recently, in the bankruptcy case with Capital City Bank, Shively uses the same arguments to assert that the loans she signed with the bank are void and unenforceable, saying the bank should have known that Shively was being unduly influenced.
Capital City Bank asked the court last week to dismiss Shively’s arguments.
“Notably, Ms. Shively does not allege that she was in any way unduly influenced and fraudulently induced by Capital City Bank, which is fatal to her claims,” the bank’s motion read.
Also over the summer, Alachua County broke from Dyrkolbotn. The county commission voted to remove Viking Companies from management of its sports and event center located on Celebration Pointe. The county cited contract breaches.
The county entered an agreement to build the center in 2021 and spent more than $30 million for the facility. Viking Companies invested millions into the facility as well, and the state of Florida granted $2.3 million toward the site through an appropriations request.
Now in charge of the sports and event center, Alachua County is asking the state for funding to buy a portable wooden basketball court, bleachers and a sound system to attract more tournaments to the site. The county voted on the funding request last week, and Chair Chuck Chestnut summarized its requests at a county delegation meeting on Monday.
Alachua County also worked closely with Dyrkolbotn on the 2025 World Masters Athletics Indoor Championships held in Gainesville. Dyrkolbotn entered into a contract to buy West End Golf Course for the championship before allowing Alachua County to buy the property instead.
When discussing the championships last year, Dyrkolbotn told the county that Viking Companies is not in bankruptcy.
“I can set the records on a lot of other things that I probably shouldn’t talk about today, personally, and some of the companies that are involved here,” Dyrkolbotn said. “But I just want to set the record that Viking Companies is not in bankruptcy.”
A county attorney called the Celebration Pointe bankruptcies “far from routine,” and the county commission hired an outside law firm to monitor the proceedings.
Besides Shively, Viking Companies and Dyrkolbotn also faced prior challenges to their real estate development strategies in Gainesville.
James and Neil Euliano, a family with multiple major donations to the University of Central Florida, filed suit in 2023 and accused the company and Dyrkolbotn of fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, negligent misrepresentation and unjust enrichment. The case dealt with an investment the Eulianos placed in Graduate Partners LLC for luxury student housing.
Iceberg Capital Partners III filed suit in 2022 against the same entities with claims of unjust enrichment and breach of fiduciary duty. These claims concerned Dyrkolbotn’s projects through Viking Student Housing and The Shops at Celebration Pointe.
In 2024, the Eulianos voluntarily dismissed their case with prejudice, eliminating a chance at future litigation over the issue.
The Iceberg case remains open, and all the lawsuits involving bankruptcy and financial breaches have been put on notice about Dyrkolbotn’s personal bankruptcy filing.
Editor’s Note: This story was updated to correct the funding mechanism used to build the Alachua County Sports and Event Center.