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Frank Crivello, EVP, Phoenix Investors, LLC Announces Lease Confirmation
by Kmart Corporation in Winona, Minnesota
Kmart Corporation Completes Bankruptcy Plan of Reorganization
and Affirms Certain Leases Including the Winona, Minnesota Lease.
Milwaukee, Wisconsin --May 6, 2003--Frank
Crivello, Executive Vice President,
Phoenix
Investors, LLC ("Phoenix Investors"),
announced that
Kmart Corporation, affirmed the lease of
Winona Associates, LLC, its affiliate, for the
shopping center located in Winona, Minnesota.
Plaza Fourteen Inc. ("Plaza 14") entered into
the referenced lease in July, 1991. Plaza 14
sold the shopping to Winona Associates, LLC in
May, 1996; Plaza 14 was represented by Gaar W.
Steiner, attorney at law, in connection with the
transaction. The owners of Winona Associates,
LLC include Frank Crivello’s family trusts.
During the late 1990's, Kmart Corporation
fell on hard times as the competitive retail
landscape with
Wal-Mart Corporation intensified. Kmart
filed bankruptcy in January, 2002. The Plaza 14
location was successful for Kmart Corporation.
This lease acceptance means that Kmart
Corporation will continue to occupy and operate
at this location.
Phoenix Investors Executive Vice President
Frank Crivello stated: "Prior to 2002, Kmart
stores suffered from competitive pressures led
by Wal-Mart. As a reorganized company, Kmart is
better equipped to face the competitive
landscape. This is a great development for the
Winona store employees and Winona community at
large. We support Kmart and wish them well."
Phoenix Investors President
David Marks stated: "Our management team
followed the Kmart Chapter 11 Bankruptcy closely
and believe it is stronger having completed its
reorganization with wide based creditor support;
we are hopeful the reorganized Kmart can be more
effective against such competitors as Wal-Mart."
About
Phoenix Investors, LLC:
PI provides PI with real estate management
and advisory services. Since 1994 PI has been
offering professional management and advisory
solutions to public and private companies,
trusts, and individual investors. Our management
endeavors to understand our clients' individual
needs, work with our client to assess specific
goals, and structure investments according to
our clients' specific risk/reward profile to
meet both the clients' short term and long term
needs. Our real estate management team
professionally manages our portfolio properties
through a combination of local and national
representation in order to effectively create a
"working-bridge" between owner and tenant,
building a cooperative mutually beneficial
working relationship. Our experts assess and
refine our client's portfolio's to maximize our
clients cash flow, equity accumulation, and
internal rate of return based upon our clients'
specific dynamic goals.
About Plaza Holding Corporation:
Joseph Crivello and Frank Crivello, cousins,
were partners in a shopping center development
enterprise. Frank Crivello served as an
Executive Vice President of National Management,
Inc., ("National Management"). Joseph Crivello
is the sole shareholder of National Management,
Fifth Corporation, Berkshire Factoring, Inc.,
Sierra Finance Corporation, and Sierra Holding
Corporation. Frank Crivello owned in whole or in
part 122 companies and employed over 1,000
individuals. During the late 1980's, Frank
Crivello and Joseph Crivello built and acquired
a large portfolio of shopping centers, including
many anchored by Kmart’s, across the country
that totaled millions of square feet. Most were
anchored by Kmart or other discounters along
with chain grocery or drug stores. In addition,
Frank Crivello built or acquired operating
businesses including a restaurant chain and six
big box grocery stores.
Frank Crivello formed Plaza Holding
Corporation (“Plaza Holding”) in 1988. Frank
Crivello formed it to act as a holding company
for the acquisition of big box existing shopping
centers located across the United States. In
early 1989, Frank Crivello formed individual
Plaza corporations, including Plaza Fourteen,
Inc., (“Plaza 14”), to own individual shopping
centers and each Plaza corporation was a wholly
owned subsidiary of Plaza Holding. Between 1988
and 1990, Frank Crivello organized approximately
seventy-five Plaza Holding corporations and
acquired shopping centers coast to coast. Frank
Crivello arranged bridge finance for most of the
Plaza Holding acquisitions through Metro North
State Bank. In the early 1990’s the nation was
in a recession and traditional real estate
lenders were failing. Metro North State Bank was
placed into receivership by the Federal Deposit
Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) upon its failure.
As traditional sources of re-financing
evaporated for the Plaza Holding properties,
Frank Crivello sought creative financing and
solutions with bankers at Daiwa Securities. In
1991, Frank Crivello structured a transaction
that created a synthetic bond obligation thru
Kmart Corporation’s net lease involving the
Plaza Holding properties including Plaza 14.
This resulted in the re-finance of a portion of
the Plaza Holding portfolio of Kmart anchored
properties through a collateralized mortgage
obligation in the approximate amount of $170
million with Daiwa Securities and owned by Frank
Crivello’s family trusts. This was the first
securitized commercial transaction of this type
and a precursor to the common Wall Street
securitized financings. In 1995 Frank Crivello’s
family trusts sold forty-three of the Plaza
Holding properties to an investor group made a
partial settlement with the FDIC. Frank Crivello
was represented in the principal transactions by
Leonard G. Leverson, of the law firm of Kravit,
Gass & Weber, S.C. ("KGW"), www.kravitlaw.com.
Safe Harbor Statement Under the Private
Securities Litigation Act of 1995 - With the
exception of historical information, the matters
discussed in this press release are
forward-looking statements that involve a number
of risks and uncertainties. The actual future
results of the PI could differ significantly
from those statements. Factors that could cause
or contribute to such differences include, but
are not limited to assumptions relating to the
marine market and that there will be no
unanticipated material adverse change in PI's
operations or business.
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