(The following story by Sandra Baker appeared on the Fort Worth Star-Telegram website on January 26, 2010.)
FORT WORTH, Texas — Developers of the 6,000-acre Dallas Logistics Hub in far south Dallas County have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy to reorganize their debt.
DLH Master Land Holding and its parent company, Allen Capital Partners, said the filing will give them time to extend debt maturities and improve their capital structure.
“We have a balance sheet problem, not an operational one,” Richard Allen, CEO of DLH Master Land Holding and Allen Capital Partners, said Tuesday in a statement. “The actions we announced today will allow us to resolve that issue.”
The filing comes nearly three years after the developers unveiled their plans for the logistics park in a grand opening that drew hundreds of people and local and state officials to the Lancaster Municipal Airport, which is next to the site.
The Allen Group bought land in Dallas, Wilmer, Lancaster and Hutchins for the project, a warehouse and distribution center planned to be North America’s first inland port to be served by two competing rail lines, Union Pacific and BNSF Railway Co. In May 2008, Fort Worth-based BNSF closed on 198 acres at a logistics business park.
Allen said the collapse of the real estate and capital markets will make it hard to continue with the project if they can’t restructure debt. A group of Allen family investors is providing a debtor-in-possession loan to be used to fund operating expenses during the bankruptcy proceeding, the company said.