Landlords Object To Payments Yellow Proposed To Discard Leases
Trucking company Yellow has hit another bump in the road as it tries to get out of leases across the U.S. and Canada as part of its bankruptcy proceeding.
Landlords have objected to the amount the company has offered to pay to get out of dozens of leases, CoStar reported. The objections stem from unpaid rent, taxes, late fees and maintenance, and property damages.
Blackstone's Link Logistics claims that Yellow owes it $213K in unpaid rent and other fees for two truck terminals in Orlando, Florida, and Elkridge, Maryland, CoStar reported. R+L Carriers said the company owes it $4.7M, including $2.2M due to the trucker's failure to prevent environmental hazards at properties in Atlanta and Chicago.
Estes Express Lines said that Yellow neglected truck terminals in Milwaukee, Charlotte and Kearny, New Jersey, that would cost at least $27.9M to repair, according to CoStar. Yellow only offered to pay $652K for damages, including broken and cracked asphalt parking lots and roof damage.
Other landlords that raised objections include Terreno Realty Corp., Crown Enterprises, Mad Acquisitions, Kestrel Crossdock and Fazio Faloma Properties.
Yellow filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Aug. 6 after running into issues refinancing debt, a large portion of which was from a $700M federal government loan the company took out early in the pandemic.
In September, Estes became the lead bidder to acquire Yellow's owned real estate through a $1.5B stalking horse offer that beat out Old Dominion Freight Line. The company could still be outbid at a Nov. 28 auction.
Another major trucking firm, Jack Cooper Transport, is set to prepare its own bid for Yellow's real estate, Reuters reported. Part of Jack Cooper's bid would include rehiring 30,000 Yellow workers.
CORRECTION, DEC. 5, 5 P.M. ET: A previous version of this story misstated the number of leases landlords objected to and how many Yellow employees would be rehired as part of Jack Cooper Transport's proposed bid. The story has been updated.
