A co-owner of high-end inns and restaurants in Camden and Portland said his companies will be forced into bankruptcy to avoid pending foreclosure auctions.
Foreclosure auctions are scheduled for March 29 for both the Camden Harbour Inn and Natalie’s restaurant on Bay View Street in Camden and the Danforth Inn and Tempo Dulu restaurant on Danforth Street in Portland.
The Camden Harbor Inn is a 20-room luxury boutique inn with the award-winning 65-seat restaurant Natalie’s.
The Danforth Inn is a nine-room full-service inn and fine dining restaurant Tempo Dulu.
The Danforth Inn, which includes the Tempo Dulu restaurant, in Portland. Staff photo by Joel Page
A bar called Opium opened at that location in 2017, which drew condemnation amid Maine’s ongoing opioid crisis.
Raymond Brunyanszki of Camden said Friday said the situation is the result of a banking relationship with Bar Harbor Bank & Trust that has gone sour.
“Business will continue to operate as usual,” Brunyanszki said about the inns and restaurants.
He said that the bank’s failure to negotiate a fair deal will result in Breda LLC — which owns the Camden property; and Tempo Dulu LLC – which owns the Portland property – filing for protection under Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Brunyanszki said this will allow the companies to continue to negotiate a deal that will be satisfactory to both parties.
“It is then up to a judge to decide what is fair and not,” he said.
The companies’ operating results, real estate value and owners’ investments are more than sufficient to support the debt service after the mortgage deal is restructured as initially was agreed upon, he said.
Keenan Auction Co. is overseeing the foreclosure auctions for March 29. The Camden auction is planned for 10 a.m. and the Danforth Street auction at 3 p.m.
The three-story Camden Harbour Inn has operated – with a view of Camden Harbor and the Camden Hills – since the late 1800s.
Brunyanszki and Oscar Verest purchased the Camden Harbour Inn in 2007 for $2 million. The inn underwent a $2 million renovation and expansion of Natalie’s restaurant in 2007.
The Danforth Inn, a three-story brick and wood-framed building, was built in 1823 as a private mansion. The city assesses the property at $1.2 million.
“This has become a matter of principal and the fact that they consider to being locked up in a banking deal under false promises and pretense,” Brunyanszki said,
An email message was left late Friday, after business hours, for Bar Harbor Bank and there was no immediate response.
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