(sending to sudo because I don't think I am on other lists, please forward as needed)
Just had a conversation about the current situation. It sounds like People's Programs essentially want to completely take over legal and administrative control of Omni Commons. I would be against this as it seems it would spell the end of Omni Commons. I also want to put up front that Omni's Lawyer has made clear we have more than 90 days to resolve this as foreclosure cannot take less than 90 days.
But what I wanted to talk about was the assets of the Omni Commons organization, specifically the building. Using very rough numbers, Omni Commons owes $900k on a property worth roughly $3m (I am told).
It seems to me that would mean that Omni Commons has $2 million in assets by way of the property. Even if the bank foreclosed on the property, the value of those assets does not disappear! If the bank foreclosed on the property and sold it, one would expect that after they take their $900k and some fees, they would have to pay the balance back to Omni Commons. This would leave the organization with no building BUT with $2 million dollars in cash. That seems to me the worst case scenario we should accept! Worst case Omni vacates the property and then looks for where to spend its $2 million for a new property.
So we have a few scenarios ahead. One option is to find a new single large lender to give us a 5 year bridge loan to continue in this property, or to do the same with an LLC and multiple smaller community lenders (low risk bridge loans from a number of supportive community members).
Or we could let People's Programs spend $900k to acquire a $3 million property, essentially giving away Omni's $2 million in assets?? That seems like a terrible idea.
We absolutely should not give away $2m to any organization for any reason, and any support we receive must be contingent on Omni Commons maintaining legal and administrative control of our assets. It seems the best path forward is to form an LLC and seek low risk bridge loans from community members, with the backstop option of taking our $2 million somewhere else and setting up a new location.
-Taylor Alexander aka Sequoia