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LandSource Communities Development, a real estate partnership involving the nation’s largest public employees pension fund, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The California Public Employees’ Retirement System is a major investor in LandSource, which announced the bankruptcy filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware late Sunday in a news release. The partnership’s assets include 15,000 acres of undeveloped land north of Los Angeles in the Santa Clarita Valley. While not a shock, the news is a blow to companies and funds unable to extricate themselves from troubles in an industry laid low by the credit crisis. LandSource had been trying to restructure a $1.24 billion debt for months, the company said. It received a default notice on April 22 after missing a payment when a decline in the assessed value of the Southern California land holding triggered an additional charge. “LandSource believes Chapter 11 provides the most effective means for the partnership to preserve the values of its business… while it works with creditors to achieve a long-term restructuring,” spokeswoman Tamara Taylor said in the release.
