PREVIOUS COVERAGE | School’s latest money woes could end family’s reign

BRADENTON — Bradenton Preparatory Academy has been in financial trouble before, but its latest woes have resulted in a shake-up in the private school’s corporate administration and diminished the founding family’s control.

Just like it is now, the school — then called Bradenton Academy — faced lender attempts to foreclose on its west Bradenton campus in 2004, court records show. The school’s owner, The Children’s Place Inc., avoided foreclosure by refinancing.

But the school again is facing financial troubles, including two recent foreclosure suits and $921,000 in federal tax liens. School officials have said they plan to settle those debts through a British investor, who already has replaced the school’s surviving co-founder as the company’s president, public records show.

The investor, Hendrik Lamprecht, also recently created a corporation and a limited-liability company with the school’s name, records show. Neither lists any members of the school’s founding family as officers or partners.

The school at 7900 40th Ave. W. has been run by the Gerber family since 1975, when Murray and Lois Gerber launched it with a handful of students. Murray Gerber died in 2006, but Lois Gerber remains active with Bradenton Prep.

The couple’s daughters, Susan Hedgcock and Diane Small, also are involved with the school. Hedgcock is its executive director, and Small is a teacher.

But recent financial tumult has resulted in the family losing some control over the school.

The Internal Revenue Service has filed three tax liens against Children’s Place since February, contending it owes more than $921,000 in federal unemployment and payroll taxes dating back to 2007. And two lenders are seeking to foreclose on the school, saying Children’s Place has defaulted on more than $5.7 million in loans.

The school faced a similar foreclosure attempt in 2004, when SunTrust Bank contended the school defaulted on a $3.28 million mortgage and a $250,000 revolving line of credit, court records show. School officials avoided foreclosure by refinancing through GTE Federal Credit Union, which now is seeking to foreclose on that $4.1 million loan for non-payment.

A second lender also is suing to foreclose on the school. Freedom Holdings Manatee LLC, created to hold assets of the failed Freedom Bank, contends Children’s Place defaulted on a $1.62 million commercial loan by missing payments required under a forbearance agreement.

That led school officials to connect with Lamprecht, who has said he is buying “a major stake” in Children’s Place and has plans to expand the school campus. The deal isn’t expected to close until later this month, but it already has led to changes in Children’s Place’s slate of officers, records show.

In an annual report filed with the Florida Secretary of State’s Division of Corporations on Sept. 22, Children’s Place listed Lois Gerber as its president, Hedgcock as its vice president and Small as its secretary/treasurer.