RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — An attorney for the national slavery museum proposed by former Gov. L. Douglas Wilder submitted a revised plan Wednesday to dig out from $7 million in debt, including the sale of more than half of the 38 acres in Fredericksburg where the museum was to rise.
The filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court expands on an earlier Chapter 11 reorganization plan that had been criticized by creditors as unrealistic because it relied exclusively on donations. The U.S. National Slavery Museum filed for protection from its creditors last fall after donations stopped trickling in.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Douglas O. Tice Jr. is scheduled to review the plan at a confirmation hearing June 27.
Attorney Sandra R. Robinson states in the reorganization plan that the Fredericksburg property is valued at $7.6 million, a figure she adds is “conservative.”
“The debtor does not need 38 acres to build and operate a world-class museum,” Robinson wrote in the filing. The museum, she said, would need 15-18 acres to build and for parking and sell at least 20 acres to pay its approximate $250,000 in back taxes to Fredericksburg and other creditors.
Robinson said the property has restrictions that would depress the sale price and she would “take all such actions as necessary” to have the restrictions removed.
The plan still outlines an ambitious fund-raising plan that would generate $900,000 in the first year, with annual giving rising to $2 million in its fourth year. The Internal Revenue Service had revoked its tax-exempt status after the museum failed to file tax returns, but the filing said it was “authorized” to reinstate fund-raising on June 1.
Robinson said the museum has already begun receiving donations. They were not outlined in the filing and Robinson did not immediately respond to an Associated Press request for additional comment on the plan.
The museum’s biggest creditor is Pei Architectural Partnership, which has a $5.1 million lien the 38 acres on the Rappahannock River. The museum proposes paying off the architectural firm over four years. The museum outlines payment plans for other classes of debtors.
Celebrate Virginia donated the land to the museum in 2002. Earlier this month, attorneys for Celebrate Virginia said the value of the land was initially $19 million and asked the court to convert the museum’s case to Chapter 7 so the land could be sold before its value diminishes even further.
Attorneys for Celebrate Virginia said the museum had neglected the property and had no assets to maintain it. They also called the museum’s plan “vague, speculative, confusing, incomplete and/or unfeasible.”
In a separate filing, Fredericksburg’s treasurer’s office asked Tice to either dismiss or convert to Chapter 7 liquidation the debt-reorganization plan filed by Robinson. It called the reorganization plan unrealistic and its prospects for success “remote.”
Robinson addressed the Chapter 7 request in Wednesday’s filing. “The debtor believes that its plan provides for the greatest possible recovery to its creditors while preserving the estate and the debtor’s mission,” she wrote.
If approved, the museum’s organization would be back on track by Oct. 1 soliciting and collecting donations and implementing design and construction plans to display historical artifacts and documents, Robinson wrote.
Wilder, the grandson of slaves and the nation’s first elected black governor, has said was inspired to create the museum during a trip to Africa in the 1990s. He had recruited entertainer Bill Cosby and other prominent African-Americans for the museum’s board.
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Steve Szkotak can be reached on Twitter at http://twitter.com/sszkotakap.
