Two years after the restaurant emerged from a Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization, Sneakers Sports Grille on Point Meadows Drive is scheduled to be sold in a foreclosure auction next month in Duval County Circuit Court.
CenterState Bank of Florida filed the foreclosure suit against Sneakers Sports Grille Point Meadows Inc. last year, saying the owners of the restaurant near the intersection of Baymeadows Road and Interstate 95 failed to pay property taxes as required in its mortgage agreement after emerging from bankruptcy.
Circuit Judge Harvey Jay entered a judgment of foreclosure against the owners in January and ordered the restaurant to be sold in a public auction April 8.
The other Sneakers restaurant in Jacksonville Beach, which went through a separate Chapter 11 reorganization, is not affected by the foreclosure lawsuit.
The plan to reorganize the Point Meadows restaurant’s debt was confirmed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Jacksonville in March 2013. CenterState, which was Sneakers’ largest creditor, agreed to the plan.
However, in May 2014, CenterState filed a notice in bankruptcy court alleging the restaurant defaulted on the reorganization plan by not paying ad valorem real estate and tangible personal property taxes that were due March 31.
A week later, CenterState filed the foreclosure lawsuit, saying Sneakers breached its mortgage agreement by not paying the taxes. The bank asked for immediate payment of the $3.3 million still owed on the loan.
Jay found in favor of CenterState and ordered the property to be sold if the $3.3 million is not repaid by April 8. The judge’s order does not address the unpaid property taxes.
Brett Mearkle, a Jacksonville attorney who has been representing the Sneakers restaurants, was not available for comment Wednesday.
Sneakers in Point Meadows opened in 2006 and is owned by Nicholas and Susan Pratt, according to bankruptcy court documents.
A person who answered the telephone at the restaurant said Nicholas Pratt was not there Wednesday, and he would not discuss the foreclosure sale further.
Sneakers in Jacksonville Beach was opened in 2001 by Gregory Pratt, Nicholas’ brother. That restaurant filed a separate Chapter 11 petition in early 2012, at about the same time as the Point Meadows restaurant’s filing.
The Jacksonville Beach restaurant had a smaller debt load, and its reorganization plan was confirmed in September 2012.
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