A small downtown concert hall, and its $1.9 million mortgage, is in the balance as stated in a recent Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing by San Jose businessman, K.W., and reported by the Mercury News.
Dozens of arts groups from the South Bay, with works housed in the Le Petit Trianon concert hall, will be affected in the outcome of a court-supervised reorganization of K.W.'s finances. K.W. expects the bankruptcy to take six to nine months to resolve. In the meantime, K.W. hopes that the concert hall's foreclosure threat will be abated and the scheduled events for the season will not be affected.
K.W. said, "Essentially, it's a big roll of the dice, but barring something unusual, all these groups should have their seasons."
K.W.'s bankruptcy attorney, Susan B. Luce, echoed his words and added, "I don't see the Trianon shutting down, not in the near future, anyway."
K.W. has been working to find new investors, loans or someone that has the capabilities to take over the theater – and its mortgage. Aiding K.W. has been another San Jose businessman, D.M.
D.M. is the chairman of the Russian music piano festival, an annual event, and is hopeful that investors will come forward. In that effort, D.M. is considering holding a concert in the fall, titled "Save the Trianon", to hold in the 342-seat theater.
K.W. stated that 62,000 patrons visited the Trianon last year in support of the nearly 308 groups – a majority of which are non-profits – and approximately 1,000 of their events. Some of the groups that have booked the Trianon include: The San Jose Chamber Orchestra, San Jose Chamber Music Society, Steinway the Bay Area, Mission Chamber Orchestra, South Bay Guitar Society, International Russian Music Piano Competition and the Ives Quartet.
Le Petit Trianon is modeled after the original chateau located in Versailles, France. The San Jose version, a former church building now 90 years-old, is described as a French Greek revival mansion and is located on North Fifth Street one half block from the San Jose City Hall.
San Jose University professor W.M., a director of the Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies, called the theater "the perfect size for chamber music…the acoustics are fantastic" and "the equal of many halls in Europe, and performers love it. I don't know anything else like it in Northern California."
K.W. owns a total of 18 buildings, most of them rentals, in downtown San Jose. He stated that his properties are valued at approximately $16 million, with $8.5 million in mortgages.
The Trianon has the largest mortgage and is valued at $4.2 million.
Luce said, "There are lots of options, but K.W.'s estate has enough equity in it to keep the Trianon going. The Trianon is his star, his reason for being, and he's very dedicated to it. He will do everything in his power to keep that up and running as a theater."
Contact a bankruptcy attorney to file your own business or personal bankruptcy. Protecting your valuable assets (in this case a building that is important to the community) will be handled by a qualified attorney.