Contractor won't receive all he's owed

Columbus construction company owner Larry Phillips has the keys to a new Nissan dealership in North Columbus. “For what that’s worth,” Phillips said Friday.

He may be about to find out.

Phillips Construction Co. and 16 subcontractors are owed about $1.6 million by RWD Real Estate LLC, one of several Rob Doll controlled companies in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Middle District of Georgia.

Rob Doll Nissan was planning to move into the new store at the intersection of Whittlesey and Whitesville roads before his deal- ership fell on financial hard times in April of last year. Doll continues to run a watered down Nissan store out of his Box Road location, waiting for Nissan to yank his franchise agreement.

Now, Phillips, who halted construction almost 10 months ago, has the keys to a $9 million store that is about 90 percent complete. And Nissan Motors has an agreement to purchase Doll’s dealership and property out of bankruptcy.

Nissan will sell the new store and dealership to S.E. Columbus Automotive,owned by Daphne, Ala.-based dealer Shawn Esfahani.

That leaves Phillips and the subcontractors wondering what will happen next.

Esfahani, who expects to close his deal with Nissan on April5,said Friday afternoon his obligation starts “from this point forward.”

“I am disappointed that the system works with somebody getting the short end of the stick,” he said. “I wish I could come in there and write a check for $1.6 million.”

But he is not going to do that.

Esfahani, who paid $7.4 million for the property, toured the facility Monday with a contractor from Alabama, Phillips said. He knows because he was there and let them into the building.

“He is looking for somebody to finish the job,” Phillips said.

That’s right, Esfahani said, as he pushes to open the Nissan store by the end of July. And the Alabama contractor is an insurance policy if Esfahani can’t agree to terms with Phillips.

“We have talked to Mr. Phillips,” Esfahani said. “We have asked another contractor to come in and prepare a bid of what it would cost to finish to make sure the bid is competitive.”

The Alabama contractor would be used as a consultant if Phillips Construction finishes the job, Esfahani said.

There have to be incentives to finish the job, Phillips said. “We were not getting paid for two months,” he said. “There are some subs who are virtually owed all of their contracts.”

Phillips puts his dilemma in these terms, while pointing out he is not using exact numbers:

“What if you had done $90,000 worth of work and found out you couldn’t get paid, but you could finish the work for $5,000? What would your response to that be? Why would I consider doing it?”

WhileEsfahaniisunderno obligation to the contractors who worked on the project for Doll, Phillips said a goodfaith offer could probably get most of the subcontractors back on the site.

“They need to be as nice to them as they can be,” Phillips said. “They would probably come back if they were offered something. Get all of the subs together and offer them something reasonable.”

Esfahani said he understands.

But he said Phillips and the subcontractors need to work through Nissan Motor Acceptance Corp., the financial arm of Nissan Motors, which was banking the Doll construction project.

“I am not a party to that,” Esfahani said.

Phillips said the bankruptcy court is of little help.

“We can’t get anything out of bankruptcy court,” Phillips said. “There is not enough money to pay off the first lienholder, never mind anyone else.”

Alexander Electric Co. President Jay Alexander said his company is owned a substantial amount of money for work done on the Nissan store. He has not talked to Esfahani, but said there is still electrical work to be done on the building.

“The guy from out of town owns the building and will probably bring his people with him,” Alexander said.

That will likely cause the finish work to drag on, Phillips said.

“To go in on somebody else’s work and figure out how to finish it is a pretty daunting task,” Phillips said.

Esfahani, who already owns Toyota, Hyundai and Kia stores, admits he is coming into a difficult environment.

“I am going to focus on what I can do,”Esfahani said. “I will be a good dealer and provide good service.”

He is also walking into a city where the top two automobile dealers, Jay Stelzenmuller and Carl Gregory, made unsuccessful attempts to buy Doll’s Nissan store.

“There was no one interested in that building,” Esfahani said. “With what I have done, at least you won’t have an eyesore in the middle of town. Mr. Gregory and Jay wanted to place it in existing buildings.”

Stelzenmuller made multiple offers,eventually winning the bid on the dealership and building only to have Nissan exercise a clause in its contract with Doll that allowed the auto company to block a potential buyer.Stelzenmuller agreed to pay $1.050 million for the franchise. That offer was matched by Nissan.

The new Nissan store will employ about 50 people in the first year and as many as 75 in the second year, Esfahani said.

“Hopefully, we can make up for what damage has been done by doing some good in the process,” Esfahani said.