Copia creditors and bondholders finally are getting their say in the center’s bankruptcy case.

In packets mailed last week, Copia attorneys and bond insurer ACA Financial Guaranty Corporation urged creditors and bondholders to accept the center’s liquidation plan, noting that Copia’s board of trustees and management “firmly believe that this is the best possible solution to ensure a reasonable return to all creditors.”

If approved by the bondholders, creditors and a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge, a trustee will take over the property and building on behalf of the 2007 bondholders. Next steps include identifying a buyer for the building and the property — perhaps through an auction —  and liquidating all assets such as furniture, equipment and supplies. Even the Copia name could be up for sale, said Joe Fischer, Copia president.

“My understanding is that once the plan is confirmed, ACA will identify a buyer,” Fischer said. “They are committed to figuring out how to maximize the net proceeds from the sale that will then go to the bondholders. At the same time, I think they are very committed to finding a re-use that is sensitive to the needs of the community,” he wrote. “This is evident in their conversations with the Coalition to Preserve Copia and the (Culinary Institute of America) ...and we should all remember that whoever expresses an interest in the site or ultimately negotiates a purchase must go through an entitlement process with the city and by extension the community.”

In May, the CIA expressed interest in working with Copia in possibly using some or all of the property for educational purposes.

“We are still exploring the option of Copia and are very interested in being part of the future of whatever Copia becomes,” said Charles E. Henning, managing director of the CIA. 

The proposed liquidation plan notes that ACA will pay $622,000 to fund Copia’s wind-down expenses. Unsecured non-priority creditors such as those who provided wine, flowers, gift shop merchandise, marketing and other trade services to Copia should receive 13.4 percent of amounts owed. Almost all former employees will likely receive 100 percent of wages and vacation pay owed, said Fischer.

The Coalition to Preserve Copia — a group of local business people and investors who’d like to shape the future of the Copia property and building — waits for the plan to be confirmed. “We continue to be hopeful that ACA will continue its conversations with us,” said John Salmon of the Coalition.

Representatives from ACA were unable to comment on this story by press time.   

There’s already one dissenter. San Francisco-based Copia Claims LLC, which proposed a course for the property that was rejected by the bankruptcy court,  objected to the liquidation plan. “ACA has managed to throttle any opposition … and intimidate its way” toward plan confirmation, wrote William McGrane of Copia Claims.