Freestyle Music Park's legal tangle thickens

An Horry County judge has granted one of Freestyle Music Park's creditors the right to reclaim property that sits inside the shuttered park, according to court documents.

VenCore Solutions requested an order to take immediate possession of the items, stating that the property was in immediate danger of destruction.

The Oregon-based company had leased a wide variety of items to Freestyle, from shelving units to radios.

The lawyer for FPI MB Entertainment, Freestyle's owner, wrote a letter to VenCore confirming that the property "is currently uninsured and not subject to a hurricane contingency plan," according to an affidavit from James Paul Johnson, VenCore's Chief Operating Officer.

The judge granted the order on Sept. 8.

B. Keith Poston, VenCore's attorney, said the companyinstructed him not to comment on the case.

Nate Fata, FPI MBE's attorney, did not comment on the order in a brief interview on Friday and said he would not offer opinions beyond what is written in court documents.

The order is one of several actions in the park's recent legal proceedings:

Creditors responded to a foreclosure suit filed by FPI US LLC, the company that holds the park's mortgage and whose principals are closely tied to owner and operator FPI MBE. VenCore, M.B. Kahn Construction Co. Inc., Data Sales Co. Inc., Brandon Advertising Inc. and Sheriar Press Inc. rebutted the claim that the foreclosure should be first priority among creditors to be paid by FPI MBE.

Former employees filed suit for unpaid wages and bonuses amounting to more than $230,000.

Companies or people with an order of immediate possession will usually take the property under the supervision of the sheriff's department, said Allen Jeffcoat, an attorney not affiliated with either party.

FPI MBE could either open the park grounds voluntarily to VenCore or there could be a confrontation with the sheriff's department, Jeffcoat said.

In the separate foreclosure suit, FPI US claims rights to anything "affixed to, placed upon, used in connection with, arising from or otherwise related to the property" as security for its debts.

That's unlikely to make a difference for the repossession, Jeffcoat said.

"It sounded like the creditor with the order of immediate possession got there first," he said.

"So when the foreclosure comes around, it sounds like that property is not going to be there."

VenCore initially leased the items to Hard Rock Park in an agreement that was passed on to Freestyle when it bought the park out of bankruptcy in 2009.

VenCore additionally claims FPI MBE owes $1,074,738 for failing to comply with the terms of the leasing agreement.

The park failed twice in two years after lackluster seasons: First as Hard Rock Park in 2008, then as Freestyle.

The park did not reopen for a 2010 season as the owners searched for new investors.

Freestyle additionally faces a foreclosure suit that claims the park owes more than $25 million on its mortgage.

The park still aims to find some resolution - possibly bringing on new investors or selling the property - to reopen the park, Fata said in August.