Second Street Properties–Berkeley Properties

Plan Administrator Status Update Page

Update 7/27/2020

On July 27, 2020, Berkeley Properties LLC filed Chapter 11  bankruptcy in the Northern District of California, case # 20-41235.  The purpose of this bankruptcy filing is to permit the Debtor to run an expedited sale process focused on minimizing the time (and attendant costs) needed to get to a sale closing, which the Debtor hopes to achieve within approximately 90 days of the petition date.  The Debtor believes that a delay in closing on a going concern sale will be fatal to the Debtor’s business because the already high cost of operating will be more than any purchaser would be willing to pay to extend such process.  As a result the Debtor’s “runway” in bankruptcy is severely limited.   

The Debtor is filing only three first day motions, including a bid procedures motion that will set the ground rules for the sale process, and an employment application to employ the Debtor’s pre-petition real estate brokers. The Debtor is also filing the Sale Motion and the Surcharge Motion on the Petition Date. The Debtor believes that this quick sale process is necessary to minimize the mounting costs associated with keeping the Debtor in operation as it seeks to consummate a sale of the Real Property.  More information can be found on PACER (www.pacer.gov) using case # 20-41235.  The bankruptcy filing on 7/27/2020 is only for Berkeley Properties LLC and Second Street Properties did NOT file bankruptcy.

UPDATE: The bankruptcy case 20-41235 was dismissed on 12/07/2021.

Original Case Overview
On September 30, 2015, the Debtors’ and Committee’s Second Amended Joint Chapter 11 Plan of Reorganization Dated April 30, 2015 (the “Plan”) went effective with Arch & Beam Global LLC (“Arch + Beam”) as its Plan Administrator. The Plan was confirmed and the order entered on July 1, 2015 by the United States Bankruptcy Court, Northern District of California, Oakland Division, Case Numbers: 14-41045-RLE and 14-41048-RLE (jointly administered).

Purpose of This Site
This website has been created by the Plan Administrator to help enable communications with the creditors and other parties in interest in the Plan. The information on these web pages is subject to change without notice. For official filings, please see the Court Docket for these respective cases.

June 2018 Status Update for All Creditors of Second Street Properties

Creditor Distribution June 2018 – Future Distributions Uncertain
As per our previous communications, it has been the intention of the bankruptcy estate to do an annual distribution each year to creditors. The funds for these distributions were planned to come from the rents received from the Debtor’s real estate in Berkeley, CA, after the funding and maintaining of appropriate reserves. The tenant of the Debtor’s real estate is Pacific Steel Casting Company LLC (“PSCC LLC”), the company that purchased the Second Street Properties’ assets through the bankruptcy.

Distributions to creditors have always been under the assumption that the bankruptcy estate would continue to receive rents from PSCC LLC for the term of the lease as this is the bankruptcy estate’s primary source of cash for creditor distributions. Unfortunately, PSCC LLC has notified us that they will be shutting down sometime in August / September 2018. This has created significant uncertainty for the bankruptcy estate and delayed the December 2017 distribution.

As a result of this uncertainty, the Plan Administrator, in consultation with its advisors and with unanimous approval of the Post-Confirmation Committee, will be making a second distribution of 3.25% of unsecured claims (aggregate of about $500,000) to unsecured creditors in June 2018, representing a 7% distribution case-to-date . However, additional distributions will be made in the future only should adequate funds be available to make general unsecured distributions and only after setting aside funds for critical reserves. Additional distributions will be subject to the resolution of certain disputes and the net proceeds from real estate sales that have unknown timings and amounts. Although these items were identified risk factors inherent with the Plan of Reorganization, it is very disappointing for everyone, especially as our tenant’s decision to shut-down is out of our control.

PSCC LLC is trying to conduct an orderly wind-down and could cease operations in August or September 2018, although this date could change due to many factors. We expect to have more clarity in late 2018 and will be able to update the creditors at that time. The Plan Administrator has begun steps to sell the ten properties working with its advisors.

Status of Distributions

The Plan Administrator has completed some distributions to creditors in these cases. Please note that distributions are being done in accordance with the rules of priority of the Bankruptcy Code and the Plan of Reorganization.

BERKELEY PROPERTIES, LLC (14-41048)

All Berkeley Properties claims have been paid, resolved, withdrawn or disallowed.

SECOND STREET PROPERTIES (formerly known as Pacific Steel Casting Company; 14-41045)

Administrative Claims: All administrative claims have been paid, resolved, withdrawn, disallowed or reserved for.

Priority Tax Claims: All priority tax claims have been withdrawn or were for noticing purposes only.

Class 1 – Priority Non-Tax Claims: All priority non-tax claims are in the process of being paid, have been objected to and reserved for, withdrawn or disallowed.

==> NOTE: If you do not receive a check or notice from SSP by July 15, 2016 regarding your priority claim, then we may have an incorrect address for you or are missing your W-9, W-4 and/or DE-4 information.  Please follow-up with the Plan Administrator at ssp.bp.pa@arch-beam.com to ensure we have your proper information.  See further information at the bottom on this page.

Class 2 – Miscellaneous Secured Claims: All secured claims have been paid, resolved, withdrawn, disallowed or reserved for.

Class 3 – Disputed CraneTech Claims: These claims have been resolved through an adversary proceeding and are classified as general unsecured claims.

Class 4 – Local 164B Claim: These claims have been resolved through a settlement.

Class 5 – General Unsecured Claims Against Berkeley Properties: All Berkeley Properties claims have been resolved, withdrawn or disallowed.

Class 6 – General Unsecured Claims Against Second Street Properties: As of June 30, 2018, the Plan Administrator has made two distributions to General Unsecured Creditors of Second Street Properties.  As noted above, General Unsecured Distributions will be made over a multi-year period, subject to available cash after required reserves. By the end of June 2018, General Unsecured Claimants will have received approximately 7% of their allowed claim amounts. If you believe that you should have received a general unsecured distribution, please contact the Plan Administrator as we may have an incorrect address for you, are missing your tax ID number, or your claim is being disputed by the Plan Administrator.

Class 7 – Interests in Second Street Properties: To date, no distributions have been made to Holders of Interests (e.g. equity holders) of Second Street Properties.

Class 8 – Interests in Berkeley Properties: Berkeley Properties is a 100% owned subsidiary of Second Street Properties.  Because all claimants of Berkeley Properties have been paid, resolved, withdrawn, disallowed or reserved for, all excess funds after Plan Administrator reserves will be distributed to Second Street Properties for the purpose of paying administrative expenses and doing distributions to claimants of Second Street Properties.

Please note that due to the cost of running a distribution, the Plan Administrator, working with the Post-Confirmation Committee, will strive to balance the frequency of distributions with the amount of available funds for a distribution.

Contacting the Plan Administrator
The best way to contact the Plan Administrator is through email at ssp.bp.pa@arch-beam.com. While we will do our best to respond to phone calls, due to the volume of calls, sending an email will usually get a quicker response.

By mail: 
Second Street Properties / Berkeley Properties, LLC
c/o Arch & Beam Global LLC, Plan Administrator
7 West 41st Avenue – #523
San Mateo, CA 94403

By email:
ssp.bp.pa@arch-beam.com

Contacting the Legal Counsel for the Plan Administrator

The legal counsel for the Plan Administrator can be contacted at:

By mail: 
Michael (Mick) Lauter, Partner
SHEPPARD, MULLIN, RICHTER & HAMPTON LLP
Four Embarcadero Center, 17th Floor
San Francisco, California 94111-4109

By telephone: 
(415) 434.9100

By email:
mlauter@sheppardmullin.com

FOR ALL CREDITORS: Send back W9 Form to Plan Administrator

You should have received a written status update and a W9 Form in the mail. You must send back a signed W9 form in order for you to participate in future distributions. You can also download the W9 Form at http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw9.pdf.  You can learn more about W9 forms on the IRS website at http://www.irs.gov/uac/About-Form-W9.

Please mail the W9 form to:
Second Street Properties / Berkeley Properties, LLC
c/o Arch & Beam Global LLC, Plan Administrator
7 West 41st Avenue – #523
San Mateo, CA 94403

FOR INDIVIDUALS AND EX-EMPLOYEES WITH ACCRUED VACATION HOURS OR WAGES CLAIMS: Send back W4 and DE4 Forms to Plan Administrator

As the Plan Administrator is preparing for first distributions, for any individuals and ex-employees with Accrued Vacation Hours or Wages claims that were not assumed by the buyer of the operating company, you should send back completed W4 and DE4 forms to indicate your Withholding Allowance.  If the Plan Administrator does not have a W4 and/or DE4 on file at the time of any distribution, the Plan Administrator shall withhold any taxes as required by law using a conservative withholding allowance (e.g. Total Number of Allowances = 1).

Note: This is NOT applicable to individuals in the Wages and Hours Class Action Lawsuit (Rodriguez v. PACIFIC STEEL Casting Co.) that will be paid separately through the Class Action’s disbursing agent, Gilardi & Co.

You can download copies of the forms at:

IRS W4 form: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw4.pdf
CA EDD DE4 form: http://www.edd.ca.gov/pdf_pub_ctr/de4.pdf

Please mail the W4 and DE4 forms to:
Second Street Properties / Berkeley Properties, LLC
c/o Arch & Beam Global LLC, Plan Administrator
7 West 41st Avenue – #523
San Mateo, CA 94403

We were unable to do a priority wages distribution to the following individuals because we were missing your tax ID information.   For privacy, we are only listing a small part of the claimant’s name: (Last Name Starts … , First Name Initial.)
AL… , R.
FI… , J.
LO… , J.
PA… , V.
SK… , S.
TH… , M.
MI… , R.

To be included in future distribution cycles, you must have your W9, W4 and/or DE4 forms on file with the Plan Administrator.

                                                      Subject to Change Without Notice