With the deadline allowing Empire State Realty Trust to begin to seize assets in order to claim the $1,819,687.52 in unpaid rent coming this week, the Pacifica Foundation has secured a $2 million bridge loan from supporters of 90.7 KPFK Los Angeles.
Interim Executive Director Bill Crosier told the San Francisco Chronicle, “This would be a short-term loan to pay off the judgment, then the plans are to repay it with another, longer-term loan.”
The Chronicle states that they are shopping for an additional $3 million loan to pay off the first bridge loan, additional accrued tower rent, and pension payments. Pacifica is $8 million in debt between its five stations, has failed to fund its pension pool, has multiple properties with tax liens, and has been under investigation by the California Attorney General’s Office. To help raise more money the foundation has placed one of its Berkeley CA buildings on the market for $1.5 million and has had offers made for frequency swaps in multiple markets.
This may be nothing more than the equivalent of re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic after it struck the iceberg.