Monday, 1/18/10 By J.R. Lind
Nashville Post.com
Easter Seals finally unloads Green Hills property

California buyer pays $2.5 million

A California-based property company paid $2.5 million for a portion of Easter Seals' Green Hills property.

Green Hills Property Partners, LLC - based in Manhatten Beach, Calif. - bought the front portion of the Woodmont Boulevard property from Fifth Third Bank, which owned the land after Easter Seals' bankruptcy. The tract was the home to Easter Seals' Turner Center.

Representatives at the address listed for Green Hills Property Partners could not be reached Monday morning.

Easter Seals, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last May, sold its 94-acre campground in Wilson County in November for $3 million, far below its original asking price. The $2.5 million price tag for the Green Hills land is consistent with what ProVenture Commercial Real Estate, who was marketing it, had been asking.

Easter Seals had originally listed the Mt. Juliet property for $6.5 million when it went on the market in March 2008. The asking price had dropped to $4.5 million by the time of the sale. Easter Seals' bankruptcy filing came after several unsuccessful attempts to sell the Mt. Juliet and Green Hills land. The sale of the Green Hills property ran into roadblocks from neighborhood groups worried it would bring in a day care or a school, increasing traffic in the area.

The nonprofit had hoped the proceeds from the sale of the properties could generate the cash flow needed to get out of debt, but a lack of buyers forced it into reorganization. Federal court filings show Easter Seals owes its creditors more than $9 million.