SAN ANTONIO – Analisa Gonzales and her mother were prepared to celebrate her quinceañera in May.
“When we saw Urban Event Center, she was all smiles and happy,” said Valerie Losoya, Analisa’s mother.
The family was shocked when they received word from a vendor that the venue was closed.
Political scientist: Chance of throwing out primary election results ‘vanishingly small’
A notice was posted on the doors of Urban Event Center that it was being evicted from its location on Callaghan Road, near Bandera Road.
Losoya said her daughter was forced to move the date of the quinceañera, and they have scrambled to make last-minute changes.
“I had to call our vendors, our cake to change the date and make sure they can change the date sooner. It’s been a lot,” Losoya said.
Patricia Lujan-Gonzalez, one of the owners of Urban Event Center, said a total of 30 customers booked their events at the venue for the remainder of the year.
These events have been canceled, postponed around San Antonio over coronavirus
Lujan-Gonzalez said she understood why customers are frustrated, but she claims the business did nothing wrong.
West Timco Investments Inc., which owns that property, said Urban Event Center had not made rent payments for six months.
Lujan-Gonzalez disputes that claim. She said they were only behind three months.
Lujan-Gonzalez said they were unable to make payments in full due to a slow period in business.
“Every year, our rent would go up, and, basically, we were just trying to keep up with the rent,” Lujan-Gonzalez said.
When the events center filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November, the property owner was forced to evict them in February.
Chapter 11 bankruptcy allows businesses to reorganize finances and develop a plan to continue operations. However, according to bankruptcy court filings, Urban Event Center has not presented documents needed to move forward with Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
The business is now in jeopardy of shutting down permanently. However, despite the financial problems, Lujan-Gonzalez said they are still accepting clients and offering event planning services.
“We’re just kind of mobile and trying to find a location that we can start operating from,” she said.
Lujan-Gonzalez said she has helped other clients find new locations for the events that were supposed to be held at the Callaghan Road location.
Losoya said she was able to find a new location for her daughter’s birthday, and Lujan-Gonzalez has promised to issue a full refund at the end of the month.
Lujan-Gonzalez said she has partially issued refunds to four other customers.