North Bay Business Journal

FORT BRAGG — Mendocino Coast District Hospital, a 25-bed nonprofit facility, is seeking bankruptcy court protection from creditors as it seeks to reorganize its debts while keeping the doors open.

FORESTVILLE — The owners of Russian River Vineyards and its Corks restaurant have filed for U.S. Bankruptcy Court reorganization.

Richard Ghilarducci, the former chief executive officer of Humboldt Creamery in Humboldt County, was sentenced to 30 months in prison for loan fraud and ordered to pay $7 million in restitution, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced today.

SAN RAFAEL — Kerner Optical LLC, once the cover name for Lucasfilm’s Industrial Light & Magic division, has filed for Chapter 11 reorganization with U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Santa Rosa.

SANTA ROSA — The weakened housing market in Sonoma County has pushed another established North Bay builder with partially built projects in Petaluma, Sebastopol, Santa Rosa and Ukiah to seek U.S. Bankruptcy Court protection as it reorganizes its finances.

A new study of carbon sequestration on 1,322 acres of Fetzer Vineyards vineyard and wild land in Mendocino County could make the chemical element a huge resource for the wine industry under California’s evolving greenhouse-gas emissions accounting system.

SANTA ROSA – The U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Santa Rosa confirmed the reorganization plan for a 193,000-square-foot industrial real estate complex in southwest Santa Rosa.

Also: ‘Sunburned’ grapes spur market; Frazier Winery files Chapter 11; Tapp expanding

SANTA ROSA — Developer and general contractor Wendell “Del” Nordby III has emerged from U.S. Bankruptcy Court protection after creditors signed off on a reorganization plan for his personal finances.

NOVATO – PAX Streamline, the 2-year-old high-tech spinoff from San Rafael-based Pax Scientific, has dissolved.

NORTH BAY — While it’s no secret the hotel and lodging industry has taken a sharp hit during the recession, the rate of bankruptcy and default on loans within the industry has outpaced others in the commercial real estate market.

In February 2009, the CEO of Humboldt Creamery, an 80-year-old Northern California milk cooperative, resigned abruptly, leaving the rural community in which it operated shocked and stunned. In an instant, the creamery went from what was perceived to be a flourishing enterprise to a company whose very existence became uncertain and threatened.

PETALUMA – Genora “George” Mendoza, an investor in more than $100 million in mostly North Bay and Bay Area residential income properties, is emerging from U.S. Bankruptcy Court protection with a confirmed reorganization plan to pay off $82.2 million in real estate loans, property taxes and other debts over three to five years.

OAKVILLE – A San Francisco-based real estate investor who built a wine business with 550 acres of vines in Sonoma and Napa counties and acquired a former Mondavi winery has filed for U.S. Bankruptcy Court reorganization, citing $13.7 million in debt.

NAPA – Kirkland Ranch Winery, ownership of which reverted to a lender in April, is being reborn this week as an all-custom winemaking facility under operating agreements with Napa firms.

SEBASTOPOL – Palm Drive Hospital announced today that 16 positions would be scaled back or eliminated.

The cuts will save the 37-bed facility about $1.2 million annually.

SEBASTOPOL – Coming in the wake of a management shakeup drama and with less than two weeks before a key deadline to exit bankruptcy reorganization, recently installed Palm Drive Chief Executive Officer Neil Todhunter has a lot to accomplish and little time to waste.

NAPA – A final bankruptcy settlement for the American Center for Wine, Food and the Arts – the dream of late wine icon Robert Mondavi known as Copia – could come sometime in the next month and would be a key step in determining its future, be it for public use, private, or more likely a mix of the two, officials close to the matter said.

Most of these owners have already cut costs to the bone and restructured their debt, and are reaching the limit of their personal resources. Some have tried selling a portion of their assets or shares to generate liquidity.

The following questions and answers on financial industry trends are based on an interview with Patrick Kilkenny, an independent business and financial services adviser based in Santa Rosa who previously served as president of the National Bank of the Redwoods for 22 years.