Bankruptcy pulls the cloak off a company's operations, opening it to increased public scrutiny for better or for worse. And so we learned on Wednesday about a luxury town house that American Airlines owns in London that is used by its executives.
The town house, at 16 Cottesmore Gardens in the affluent Kensington neighborhood about a half-mile from the palace where Prince William and Kate Middleton live, was purchased in 1992, Bloomberg News reported, citing U.K. Land Registry documents. It is used by the airline's head of international business and for events, said Sean Collins, a company spokesman. The town house was listed among $24.7 billion in company-owned assets in the airline's Chapter 11 filing in New York.The property website Zoopla.com lists Cottesmore Gardens as the 10th most expensive street in the U.K., with an average home value of 6.3 million pounds ($9.8 million), Bloomberg reported. The AMR Corp. townhouse was renovated by interior designer Nina Campbell, who has worked for Rod Stewart and Prince Andrew, according to newspaper reports. American paid 2.85 million pounds for the house in 1992, the London Evening Standard reported at the time."The town house is a lot like the corporate jets that the executives at GM and Chrysler were forced to give up during their reorganizations," said Richard Tilton, a director of real-estate auctioneer Sheldon Good & Co. and a lawyer specializing in bankruptcy sales for 30 years. "Symbols of corporate suite excess are not likely to survive a Chapter 11 reorganization that is supposed to be fair and equitable." Collins said the airline may indeed sell the town house."As we work through our Chapter 11 reorganization, we are focused on achieving a competitive cost and debt structure and will, of course, review our use and ownership of this and all our real estate," Collins said in an e-mail.AMR's timing may be good. Bloomberg reports that central-London real estate prices have advanced about 40 percent since the market's low in March 2009, according to Knight Frank L.L.P., with luxury houses and apartments in central London up an average of 12.6 percent in the past year.Figures didn't add upRemember all those stories, including in these pages, about how many Americans switched from banks to credit unions in the weeks leading up to Bank Transfer Day on Nov. 5? Turns out the real numbers were only about a third of what was widely reported."Credit Unions Eat Crow on Customer Numbers," says the headline in American Banker, which first reported the overcount. According to the respected trade publication, the Credit Union National Association said about 214,000 people joined a credit union in October, not the 650,000 it earlier estimated using a survey of its members.Credit unions apparently reported the number of new accounts opened and may have used different dates in their counts, the trade group told American Banker. And it's possible that credit unions with the biggest gains may have been the most likely to report, skewing the results, the association said.Banker of the YearCharlie Powell, president of the Fort Worth region for Bank of Texas, is this year's Banker of the Year, an honor given by the Tarrant County Bankers Association."He has a strong history of community involvement, as evidenced through his numerous board positions, and has strengthened the image of banking in the Tarrant County market by leading successful community and regional banks," said Bob Semple, chairman of Bank of Texas' local region. Bank of Texas is part of BOK Financial, based in Tulsa.Powell is on the boards of John Peter Smith Hospital, the Boy Scouts of America Longhorn Council and the Northeast Tarrant County Leadership Forum. He will receive the award today at Shady Oaks Country Club.Sandra Baker, 817-390-7727sabaker@star-telegram.comScott Nishimura, 817-390-7808snishimura@star-telegram.comBarry Shlachter, 817-390-7718barry@star-telegram.comHave more to add? News tip? Tell us
