Only two members of the company's board of directors remain now that John W. Luciani III, 47, resigned as president effective May 1, along with Dorian Luciani, a senior vice president.
The Boca Raton-based developer-operator of 53 assisted living facilities in 15 states filed for voluntary reorganization last March under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, when the company defaulted on about $13.6 million in interest payments due on about $167 million in principal debt obligations.
Promoted in October 1999, Luciani III assumed the role of president following the death of Bernard M. Rodin, a co-founding director, chief operating officer and chief financial officer.
Besides Luciani III, Walter Feldesman, 82, resigned as a director in March 2000; Sidney Dworkin, a director died at age 78 in October 2000; and Paul Jawin, director, general counsel and chief operating officer, resigned in November 2000.
Since filing the petition in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, New Jersey, the company has amassed a cumulative net loss of about $22.8 million through February this year, according to a report the once-publicly traded company recently filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Cumulative reorganization costs totaled more than $2.2 million.
The bankruptcy petition elicited a class-action lawsuit against the company and its officers in U.S. District Court, New Jersey, in addition to a stack of legal actions taken by investors such as George E. Batchelor, a Miami air industry magnate, who owned about 1.2 million shares or 6.9% of the outstanding common stock in Grand Court at the time of the court filing.
Investors filed the class-action lawsuit right after John Luciani, 68, the company co-founder, chairman and chief executive officer, made a written plea to investors that the bankruptcy petition would have no impact on numerous limited partnerships created to own the assisted living facilities.
In November last year, the bankruptcy court approved a two-phase exit plan. The first phase proposed the sale of the company's senior living assets to Triad Senior Corp. Phase-two plans called for sale of the management rights on those senior living communities to Capital Senior Living Corp., a New York Stock Exchange company.
Although those two deals fell apart, the court approved a subsequent proposal in December to sell the senior living assets and management rights to GFB-AS Investors LLC for an estimated $10.25 million. The investment group included Apollo Real Estate Advisors IV, Fortress Investment Group and Michael Ashner.
It is uncertain whether that deal closed, because SEC documents and court dockets do not specifically confirm the closing. Attorneys for Grand Court didn't respond to a request from GlobeSt.com for comment.
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