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The headquarters Fisker used in its waning days was recently abandoned and left in “complete disarray,” with drums of apparent hazardous waste, automotive equipment, and even vehicles and full-size clay models left behind, according to the landlord.
The chaos was described in a new filing that was submitted to Fisker’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy docket Friday afternoon by landlord Shamrock (La Palma) Properties II, LLC. Tony Lenzini, a representative for Shamrock, said in an attached declaration that the landlord “now faces tens of thousands of dollars in cleanup costs, damage repairs, and what appears to me to be hazardous waste removal.”
Shamrock is now objecting to Fisker’s attempt to abandon the lease because of the mess that’s been left behind. Shamrock says Fisker sold some of the on-site assets to Heritage Global Partners, an auction house, but that it hasn’t been able to determine who legally owns any of the stuff that was left behind. A lawyer for Fisker did not respond to a request for comment.
The filing comes as Fisker is trying to get its liquidation plan confirmed four months after filing for bankruptcy. That could happen as soon as next week. The bankrupt company has gotten support from its myriad creditors, although the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed an objection earlier Friday, revealing that it has opened an investigation into Fisker.
Lenzini says in his declaration that representatives for Fisker accompanied him on a walkthrough of the facility, which is located in La Palma, California, on September 24. (Fisker shifted its headquarters to this facility after it closed its shiny main Manhattan Beach office in May.) He says they assured him that Heritage Global Partners “would have everything removed” by September 27 — the date Fisker was slated to hand over the property — and that “the building would be cleaned as thoroughly has [sic] possible.”
Over those few days, though, Lenzini describes a manic scramble. He says people were “pulling items out of the office and warehouse and loading up trucks and cars” and claims no one was logging what was taken.
Meanwhile, HPG President Nick Dove tells TechCrunch that his firm, which purchased some office equipment, furniture and related items, had an agreement with Fisker that was supposed give them access until September 30. However, the company and its moving crew wasn’t not allowed into the building September 30 to retrieve those items. He also says the “chemicals and batteries were not part of our transaction” with Fisker.
On September 27, Lenzini says he “I witnessed people hurriedly removing property from the building and loading vehicles with various items” but adds that he had “no idea who these people were – whether they were Fisker employees, HGP, Huron staff, or friends of either.” (Huron is the name of the consulting group that has advised Fisker through the bankruptcy process.) Lenzini says these people were “throwing debris everywhere, taking tools, computers, automotive parts, and more, and then returning for another load.”
And yet, Lenzini says, the La Palma facility “has been left in complete disarray.” He says there are two 50- to 55-gallon drums, one which references containing oil and another which says contains coolant. He says there are “approximately 20 automotive sized batteries” left on site, too. It isn’t clear if those are electric vehicle battery packs or more typical 12-volt car batteries. Lawyers for Shamrock wrote that Fisker vehicles “were left parked” in the lot outside the facility, but did not specify if they are Ocean SUVs.
“My concern is that I do not know what chemicals have been left at La Palma,” Lenzini writes.
Photos attached to Lenzini’s declaration show full-size clay models of Fisker’s planned Ronin supercar and Alaska pickup truck, and an office full of tipped-over garbage cans and detritus.
In addition to all this, lawyers for Shamrock claim people have broken into the facility and have been “attempting to set up residence when the Premises were left vacant and not secured.”
