Steel firm failure a recent issue for nominee Sanchez - Tampa Bay Business Journal:

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The steel plant, which opened in late is closedand padlocked, leaving behind allegationw and a cadre of creditors. Sanchez is studyintg numerous trade agreements and making other preparationsa for the Senate confirmation hearing and coulc not personally comment onRenaissance matters, but regretxs the company was unsuccessful, said spokesmabn Freddy Balsera. As undersecretary in the , Sanchez wouldc oversee more than 1,00p employees in trade offices in85 countries. Renaissancde had about 35 employees. Investors Don co-founder of , and prominent Tampz developer William Bishop formedthe corporation.
The idea behinfd the steel plant was to providee jobs in the community anddevelo low-cost housing. The investors tappee Sanchez, a lawyer and an adviser and negotiatod in the Clinton administration who readily acknowledger he had no background insteekl manufacturing, to run Renaissance’s sales, marketing and operations in May 2006. Sanches put hundreds of thousands of dollards of his own money into the company andlost it. When the company’as board of directors decided to close inearly 2008, he took a post at , one of the largesgt law firms in Tampa. , a business that purchased the assete ofRenaissance Steel, is in Chapter 11 Richard D.
Biddle, Innovative’s president, and Davidf Steen, the company’s attorney, allege crucial steel truse design software that was supposed to be includedf in the Renaissance assets sale was not ther afterthe closing. Biddle paid about $1 million of the $2 millionm owed for the assets. He laid off abouyt 30 people since filing for bankruptcy reorganizationin November. “Buyinyg the assets turned out to be a smoks and mirrors kindof deal,” Biddle said. “Frank did not make the calls. He was the middlemanj and left about the time Icame in. I don’tg think he had a clue as to what wasgoingg on.
” The software issue plays a role in tryingb to reach an agreement with Innovative’s main LLC, a collateral assignee of A LLC, Steen State records show the managing member of A Bettee Place, which was voluntarily dissolved Apri 1, was Bishop. “The deal for the assets was $2 Steen said. “What we’re suggesting is that Innovativwe paidtoo much.” Other businesses and vendorzs are seeking money they claim Renaissance Hillsborough County circuit court recordw show , based in Louisville, Ky., won a judgmengt of $64,000 against Renaissance in January for materialsd invoiced in August 2007. , a Tampaa uniform service, is owed $25,000, accordintg to records.
The nonprofit Corporation to Develop Communitiesd of Tampa filed suit againstr Renaissancein February, seeking payment on a promissory note for a loan of Court records show Bishop signed the loan agreementg in 2006. A motion for a default judgment in the case was file d April 6 after there was no respons e tothe complaint. Renaissance rackexd up a debt of $180,0000 to , a Clearwater-based compan with a facility at the Portof Tampa. Chris Titan’s president, said his company wrote off $54,009 in return for an agreement that Renaissanc e would pay theremaining $126,000. He still has the October 2007 agreement, signed by Sanchez as Renaissance’sz CEO.
Bush said payments under the agreementeventuallt stopped, and today Titan is owed “We dealt with Frank until he left, but I have a feelin g he didn’t really know everythinv that was going on,” Bush