A massive auto repair shop along Interstate 25 facing multiple eviction proceedings is bankrupt.
NavAuto1 Group, which operates out of 60,000 square feet in unincorporated Adams County, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy earlier this month.
“It’s because Trump became president and his s****y policies,” owner Ali Anva told BusinessDen in a brief interview.
Anva, who has run NavAuto1 with his wife and CEO Shahnaz Emami since 2021, said the president’s tariffs are the biggest culprit in the downtick in business. Anya said he hopes bankruptcy will help him restructure and keep the business afloat.
He deferred further comment to his lawyer, Issa Israel of Issa Israel Law Firm, who did not respond to BusinessDen.
The company listed between $100,000 and $500,000 in assets and at least $2.7 million in liabilities. It has yet to file additional documents that will provide specific figures.
NavAuto1 operated out of three buildings along 56th Avenue until recently.
It left the smallest of the three, at 5700 Lincoln Way, in early May after its landlord there started the eviction process.
And the landlords for its other two properties are seeking the same outcome.
JMD Investments LLC, the entity that owns the 30,000 square foot building at 221 E. 56th Ave., said in a May court filing that NavAuto1 hadn’t paid rent since December. The company’s bankruptcy paperwork lists the landlord as its biggest creditor, owed $590,000.
NavAuto1 is fighting the eviction, saying in a court filing that it has invested $2 million into the building, going “far beyond any normal commercial tenancy.” A hearing is scheduled for Thursday morning.
Scott Durland, who owns NavAuto1’s third building, at 48 E. 56th Ave., is the third-biggest creditor, owed $280,000. He told BusinessDen he hasn’t received rent in three months.
Durland, who also owns the nearby Grizzly Rose country music venue, said he put an eviction notice on the door of the building, which is NavAuto1’s body shop, on July 1.
“It’s only been a couple of years, and we did a good deal with them to get free rent for the first six months,” Durland said. “But then I recently got a bad check from him, and as soon as that happened I knew it was over.”
NavAuto1’s troubles don’t end there. Filings show that multiple contractors have sued the business over unpaid bills. Most of those firms are listed as creditors in the bankruptcy filing, including Anva and Emami’s former lawyer, Brian DeBauche, a local defense attorney.
In a suit filed mid-June, DeBauche said NavAuto1 owes him $52,500 for representing it in myriad contractor cases. DeBauche also alleged that NavAuto1 gave him a $30,000 check that bounced and that Anva and Emami “used the businesses as an alter ego to carry out personal transactions and to benefit themselves.”
“Upon investigation, the defendants used several sources of financing to pay for a lavish lifestyle of vehicles, homes, and overseas trips,” the lawsuit continued.
That’s a claim Anva staunchly denies.
“Absolutely not,” Anva said “We haven’t been overseas in five years.”
