On Wednesday Club One a popular casino and restaurant in downtown Fresno, California filed for bankruptcy in U.S. District Court.
The ownership group led by Kyle Kirkland, Club One Casino Inc.’s president, filed Chapter 11 for the business located at the corners of Tulare Street and Van Ness Avenue. Kirkland said that the lucrative business whose payroll exceeds $500,000 per month for its staff of about 280 will remain open and continue making payments that it owes to the city. Annual table fees estimated at $1 million are paid to the city of Fresno according to an attorney for Kirkland.
A ruling last week in New York favoring Fresno residents and former minority owner George Sarantos and former owner Elaine Long preceded the bankruptcy filing. After their 2008 sale the two became Club One’s biggest creditors and combined are owed nearly $12 million according to their lawyers.
Club One Casino Inc.’s creditors are owed in excess of $9.5 million, Sarantos and Long are each owed $4.15 million, and $907,000 is owed to the law firm of Milbank, Tweed in Los Angeles in addition to unknown amounts owed to several other creditors. The second entity involved in the bankruptcy is Club One’s stock holding company, Club One Acquisition Corp. which owes Sarantos and Long another $1.8 million each for attorney fees and interest, according to Long’s attorney, Jim Betts.
Allowing the business to remain open while paying creditors over time, according to the Chapter 11 filing documents assets of Club One Casino Inc.’s ownership group are estimated between $10 million and $50 million in addition to a similar amount in liabilities.
In addition to the Club one casino, there are approximately 12 other casinos in the Golden State’s Fresno County.