When pub owners Kyle and Tena Wildfang abruptly shut their Wildfang’s Grill House in Springfield last week, they told customers on Facebook: “Life has presented us with a new opportunity that will lead us on a different path and onto new adventures… we are excited to embrace what lies ahead.”
What they didn’t disclose: Their “new adventures” include a journey into U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Oregon to stave off creditors to whom the couple owes $7 million.
Creditors have long been trying to seize the Wildfangs’ real estate due to the couple’s failure to make mortgage payments. The Wildfangs’ biggest property is Lane County’s most prominent unfinished house: the vacant teal vapor-barrier-wrapped mansion in an overgrown field on the east side of Interstate 5 near Coburg. The couple’s bankruptcy reorganization filing in April has put those foreclosure efforts on hold.
The Eugene couple previously shut their other pub, Jimmy Mac’s Overtime Grill in west Eugene.
The bankruptcy filing and related new documents show the tangled mess that lies behind the restaurant closures:
• The couple have not filed Oregon income tax returns since 2022, according to letters the Oregon Department of Revenue sent them in April, demanding they now file returns;
• In their bankruptcy filing, the Wildfangs report owing a combined $730,000 in taxes to the federal government, the state of Oregon and the Lane County property tax assessor;
• While one bank seeks to foreclose on the unfinished 20,000-square-foot Coburg-area house, another seeks to foreclose on the Wildfangs’ home in the Valley River Village neighborhood in Eugene;
• In their bankruptcy filing, the couple say they own 14 cars and pick-up trucks. These include a 2001 Chevrolet Camaro they say is worth $65,000 and a 1967 Chevrolet Nova SS they say is worth $70,000. They also report owning 11 boats, RVs, trailers and the like, and four motorcycles or mopeds;
• Plus, they report owning roughly 82 trucks, tilt-trailers, excavators and other pieces of heavy equipment, some of it apparently left over from Kyle Wildfang’s years as a construction contractor, according to the bankruptcy filing. Much of the collection is 30 to 40 years old.
Bankruptcy for farmers
The Wildfangs report their assets total $17 million — far more than their $7 million in debts — although no independent verification of the assets’ worth is included in the bankruptcy filing.
It’s unclear why the Wildfangs have not sold some of their copious assets to raise cash to pay off irate and litigious creditors. The couple did not respond to questions from Eugene Weekly.
The Wildfangs are using a highly unusual type of bankruptcy reorganization: a Chapter 12, which is exclusively for families that receive much of their income from farming or fishing. As justification, the Wildfangs list as “farm property” their 65-acre Coburg spread plus real estate in Tenino, Washington.
In a reorganization bankruptcy, the court can approve a plan for the debtor to repay creditors. The Wildfang case is not yet near that stage.
In their filing, the Wildfangs report having virtually no cash, but $8.8 million worth of real estate; $2.6 million worth of machinery and equipment; and $722,000 worth of cars and pickups.
In a Chapter 12, the court can let a debtor keep some assets, for example a car and some real estate and equipment, so they can resume their livelihood post-bankruptcy.
However, the Wildfangs have asked the court to let them keep virtually all their assets, including all real estate, machinery and vehicles, according to the filing. A court official has already objected, saying that request is excessive.
Value uncertainty
The worth of the Wildfangs’ holdings is unclear. Lane County puts a market value of $3.8 million on the unfinished Coburg-area mansion and its land. The Wildfangs’ filing asserts the place is worth $5.2 million. The couple’s west Eugene commercial property on South Bertelsen Road, where Jimmy Mac’s used to reside, has a market value of $770,000, the county says. A real estate broker has listed it for sale at $940,000. The Wildfangs assert it is worth $1.2 million. In their bankruptcy filing, the Wildfangs value their Washington farm at $1.4 million.
Then there’s the Wildfangs’ creditors. Banks hold a combined $5 million in mortgages on the Wildfangs’ Coburg property, Eugene home and Washington farm. Other creditors total about 50 people and companies. These include one individual who gave the couple a $500,000 unsecured loan; 15 credit card accounts; Lane County-area businesses including restaurant suppliers, pest-control companies, a laundry and an accountant; a half-dozen short-term lenders around the country; and even the Valley River Village Homeowners Association for unpaid dues.
Go Ducks!
Meanwhile, the Terrebonne-based owner of 1414 Mohawk Boulevard in Springfield, where Wildfang’s Grill House was a tenant until it shuttered last month, is pushing hard to secure a formal eviction of the grill for nonpayment of rent. The bankruptcy court judge this summer gave the Wildfangs a chance to pay the back rent that had accrued over many months and totalled over $45,000. But they didn’t pay, so the building owners can now move ahead with eviction, bankruptcy records show.
For creditors, the ride has not been fun.
But on Facebook, the Wildfangs waxed emotional about serving customers at Wildfang’s’s Grill House. “The memories we’ve made together will stay with us forever,” they wrote. “As one chapter comes to an end, another one begins. We are leaving with full hearts, so much gratitude and excitement for the new adventure that awaits us…. And of course, GO DUCKS!!!”
The Bricks $ Mortar column is anchored by Christian Wihtol, who worked as an editor and writer at The Register-Guard in Eugene 1990-2018, much of the time focused on real estate, economic development and business. Reach him at Christian@EugeneWeekly.com.