Ex-Senator, Partners Seek Bankruptcy Court’s Help : Chapter 11: The group headed by Alan Robbins filed when a $10-million payment concerning a North Hollywood apartment complex became due.

A second real estate partnership headed by imprisoned former state Sen. Alan E. Robbins (D-Van Nuys) has filed for federal bankruptcy protection.

Club California of North Hollywood, a California limited partnership in which the former lawmaker is general partner, filed for protection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court on Sept. 8. Fourteen months ago, another partnership headed by Robbins filed for bankruptcy.

Robbins, serving a five-year sentence for political corruption at the federal prison camp at Lompoc since June, could not be reached for comment. His attorney, Lawrence Diamant, said Thursday that the partnership filed for bankruptcy protection when its $10-million mortgage payment became due.

The partnership, which owns the 200-unit apartment complex worth at least $15 million, owes another $61,000 to utilities companies, lawyers and contractors, according to court records.

A former state senator from the San Fernando Valley known for his intricate web of real estate holdings, Robbins was imprisoned earlier this year for illegally using his office for personal gain.

Attorney Roger Howard, who represents the partnership, said Thursday that Club California was forced into bankruptcy proceedings when its $10-million loan from Mutual of New York became due.

“They refused to extend the loan,” said Howard, an attorney with the Century City firm of Christensen, White, Miller, Fink & Jacobs, which is also one of the creditors. “I really don’t understand why.”

“It is very difficult these days to get another $10-million loan on anything,” he added.

Diamant said the bank “would have foreclosed had we not filed for Chapter 11. We will try to refinance and reorganize so we can save the building and pay the creditors.”

Bank representatives declined to comment.

Robbins, who was first elected to the Senate in 1973 and became a key lawmaker in Sacramento and one of the most prominent officeholders in the Valley, resigned in disgrace last November after acknowledging that he had used his office for personal gain.

Robbins’ financial troubles first surfaced in July, 1991, when his Marina East Holding Partnership filed for Chapter 11 protection for failing to make payments on $7.6 million in loans to banks, lawyers and developers.