Reno architectural firm, developer

An architectural firm with deep roots in Reno is wrapping up its affairs after it filed a bankruptcy petition.

Timothy M. Sweeney Architect P.C. and a sister company, I.D.E.A. Development Inc., filed Chapter 7 petitions in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Reno, seeking a court-supervised liquidation.

The architectural firm had a 50-year history, although its ownership transitioned several times.

In its bankruptcy court filing, the architectural firm said it has liabilities of more than $1.2 million and assets totaling less than $100,000. Major unsecured creditors include Wells Fargo Bank and Forbes &

Dunagan Inc., a structural engineering company in Reno.

I.D.E.A. Development, meanwhile, listed unsecured liabilities of about $654,000 in its bankruptcy filing. Included in that total is $414,556 it owes to the Sweeney architecture firm.

The companies are represented in their bankruptcy action by attorney Jeffrey Hartman of Hartman & Hartman in Reno.

A meeting of creditors is set for March 26.

Telephone and e-mail requests for comment from Timothy Sweeney, head of the two companies, were unanswered last week. The companies' Reno offices both were dark behind locked doors.

In an interview about a year ago, Sweeney said the companies employed 13. Among recent projects undertaken by the firm were conversion of the University Inn building at the University of Nevada, Reno, into dormitory space and the Ijji Sushi restaurant in Sparks.