The company that owns a New Mexico film studio, whose developers propose to build a South Windsor film studio using state tax credits, has filed for bankruptcy protection, according to a published report.
Bloomberg News reported Wednesday that Pacifica Mesa Studios LLC, the parent company of Albuquerque Studios, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Under Chapter 11, a company is shielded from creditors while it works out a court-approved plan to repay creditors.
Pacifica Mesa is a subsidiary of California-based Pacifica Ventures, which is partnering with Rhode Island-based Halden Acquisition Group to build a $71 million film studio in South Windsor.
Pacifica Mesa listed assets of $57.7 million and debt of $104.5 million in Chapter 11 documents filed yesterday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Woodland Hills, California. Pacifica Mesa holds the title to Albuquerque Studios, a 28-acre site the company valued at $54 million in court papers, Bloomberg reports.
Officials of the Connecticut project said they planned to break ground this spring on the state-of-the-art motion picture and television studio, which they said could create close to 2,000 jobs in the state.
South Windsor town officials and an executive with the local partnership that is moving the plans forward told the Journal Inquirer today that the bankruptcy issue in New Mexico will not stop – or even slow down – plans for South Windsor.
Ralph Palumbo, chief financial officer for Connecticut Studios, told the JI that studio Chairman Hal Katersky has every intention of seeing the South Windsor project through to completion.
