What happens to Revolution Aluminum property now?

When Revolution Aluminum announced in 2015 it planned a $1.5 billion plant complex in Pineville that would employ more than 1,000 people, it was hailed as the game-changing project Central Louisiana had long sought.

Two years later, the company’s subsidiary that purchased land for the planned complex has been forced into bankruptcy by a slew of unpaid creditors, and the future of 1,400 acres of prime industrial property is in limbo.

An attorney for three of the creditors has filed a motion to appoint a trustee to oversee Revolution Aluminum Propco LLC, the Revolution Aluminum subsidiary that bought the property off La. Highway 107, once the site of an International Paper Mill, for $3.9 million last March.

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If approved, the trustee would "essentially replace the debtor's management in running the company," said Bradley Drell, the Alexandria attorney who filed the motion.

A trustee would almost certainly look to sell the former IP property, now called Innovation Park, to settle more than $6 million in debts. But that sale could take different forms.

The entire property could be purchased by a single buyer, it could be sold in pieces or it could be further developed and marketed as an industrial park.

"I know there are other entities and other companies interested, along with economic development engines pushing to make something happen at that property," said Pineville Mayor Clarence Fields. "What that will be, I don't know. But I still have to be optimistic that something can be developed at that site."

Jim Clinton, president and CEO of Central Louisiana Economic Development Alliance, said there has been "a lot of interest" in the property, which has had several improvements since the sale, including rail upgrades for which Acadiana Railway Company is owed nearly $650,000.

"It's an excellent site," Clinton said. "We hope through whatever emerges from this bankruptcy, that site ends up in commerce and is available for expansions, retentions and new projects."

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge John W. Kolwe granted the motion forcing Propco into involuntary bankruptcy on Feb. 1.

In the motion to appoint a trustee, creditors allege Propco's principal, Roger Boggs, attempted to obtain an 11th-hour mortgage to pay the company's debts, in violation of a previous court order that the court must approve any further encumbering of the property.

Under the mortgage terms, Propco would have borrowed approximately $6.05 million to pay its creditors. In return, it would have repaid that sum, plus an additional $2.2 million and invested $15 million from future financing for the plant into a medical marijuana business.

The debtor's disregard of a court order and willingness to enter into "such an onerous loan transaction" are among the justifiable causes to appoint a trustee, according to the motion. A hearing is set for March 8.