With the Fort Worden Public Development Authority (PDA) now in receivership, it will be up to the principals with the Bellevue-based Elliott Bay Asset Solutions to recoup $6.2 million the failed PDA owes to Kitsap Bank.

They could also decide it is not able to recoup that debt. The process of sorting out whether and how the 90-acre campus might be profitably run — something the PDA under three previous incarnations was unable to do — will determine the outcome not only for Kitsap Bank, but tenants at the park and virtually everyone who uses it.

On Aug. 1, the PDA board voted unanimously to request that the Port Townsend City Council dissolve the entity and council scheduled a hearing for Oct. 7. The complaint by Kitsap Bank against the PDA was filed on Sept. 27. The decision to place the PDA assets in receivership came on Oct. 4, when Jefferson County Superior Court Judge Brandon Mack issued an order appointing a general receiver over all PDA property and assets. City council removed the item from its agenda following the action.

The underlying challenge in sorting out what happens to the campus is that Washington State Parks owns Fort Worden. In 2013 State Parks issued a 50-year lease to the PDA to manage and operate the upper campus of the park.  

The other parties of interest in the case include the tenants of Fort Worden who had leases and other ties to the PDA. That incudes the highly successful Centrum, which fosters creative experiences through layered programing “in partnership with Fort Worden.” Centrum hosts a wide array of workshops and events including many popular events such as FiddleTunes and Jazz Week, which draw thousands of people to the park. 

This year’s Jazz Port Townsend workshop alone brought 183 participants aged 14-85 from 18 states, Canada, the United Kingdom and Japan.

Other tenants at Fort Worden include Northwind Art, Peninsula College, Copper Canyon Press, Rainshadow Recording Studio, Port Townsend School of Woodworking, Madrona MindBody Institute.

Receiverships in Washington State are governed by state law and provide an alternative to bankruptcy proceedings. Receiverships provide for asset management, protection, and disposition of distressed real property or business ventures. The receivership also acts as an advocate for the interests of creditors and equity holders — in this case, Kitsap Bank — and are tasked with ensuring the preservation and potential recovery of assets.

Mack named Elliott Bay Asset Solutions the receiver, identifying Stuart Heath, the company’s founder and principal in the process.

Heath, according to his company profile, reports that he has managed more than 100 receiverships with more than $1 billion in assets. He is the owner and designated broker of a full-service real estate brokerage, vice president of the Independent Brokers Association, and former chair of the Northwest Multiple Listing Service. He has managed, developed, repositioned, listed, and or, sold more than 800 properties. He is also a business and real estate attorney.

Heath did not return phone calls or email requests for comment by press time.

Heath’s team includes Bill Weisfield, Lennart Bentsen and Brooke Knight.

Weisfield reports more than 40 years as a board member and strategic planner for companies such as Hawaiian Airlines, Weisfield Jewelers, Valu-Mart, The Northern Capital Company, Bayley Construction, Lindal Cedar Homes, Shurgard Storage To Go, The Cornerstone Columbia Development Company and financial institutions such as Federal Home Loan Bank and Bank of Montreal, leading businesses through turnarounds and workouts.

Bentsend served as a hotel executive with more than 25 years’ experience in all levels of hotel operations with companies such as Marriott, Hilton, IHG, and others.

Bentsend and Weisfield both have hospitality experience.

Knight reports that she has more than 25 years of non-profit leadership experience and co-managed a public-private process for a public parks district that leased facilities to a non-profit organization that then required further funding.

Collectively, the group has extensive experience repositioning, marketing and selling various property types, including hotels and motels, RV campground resorts, multi-family complexes, office buildings, retail stores, restaurants, housing complexes with government debt structures and more.