Four limited liability companies through which Frank and Anne Marie DeCaro, of Spokane, own commercial properties here have filed for Chapter 11 reorganization in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, forestalling foreclosure actions.

The companies—FAM Properties 1 LLC, FAM Properties 2 LLC, FAM Properties 3 LLC, and FAM Properties 4 LLC—listed combined assets of $7.8 million and combined debts of about $5.6 million in the separate bankruptcy filings. They own properties at 918-928 N. Division, 830 N. Division, 327 W. Third, and 220 E. Wellesley, respectively.

Numerica Credit Union, of Spokane, is the largest listed creditor for each of the properties, holding secured claims that total just under $5.2 million.

Frank DeCaro declined to comment on the filings.

The two properties on Division Street that FAM Properties 1 and FAM Properties 2 own are located at the south end of the Division-Ruby couplet. A multitenant retail building, called DeCaro's River Center, which last year lost a sizable video-rental outlet, occupies the northern parcel there. Tenants in that building include a dry-cleaning business and a hair salon. A payday-loan outlet that had been located there for a number of years closed recently, and its space remains vacant. The overall property has a listed value of $3.3 million, with Numerica holding a $2.1 million secured claim against it.

A Wendy's fast-food restaurant, located in a building that's owned separately and not involved directly in the bankruptcy or foreclosure proceedings, occupies the adjoining southern parcel owned by FAM Properties 2. It has a listed value of $1.8 million, with Numerica holding claims against it totaling $1.3 million.

The two-story building at 327 W. Third owned by FAM Properties 3 also is a multitenant structure, and tenants there include a men's haircut shop, insurance offices, a wireless-phone provider, and a DeCaro & Associates real estate brokerage and property-management office. That property has a listed value of $2.1 million, with Numerica holding a $1.3 million secured claim against it.

The two-story, multitenant building and land at 220 E. Wellesley owned by FAM Properties 4, called DeCaro Northtown Center, has the smallest estimated value of the four properties, at $650,000, with Numerica holding a $499,000 claim against it. Tenants there include jewelry, insurance, medical-instrument, tailor and shoe repair, massage-therapy, and tattoo businesses, bankruptcy documents say.

In March, in conjunction with foreclosure actions initiated against the properties, a Spokane County Superior Court commissioner placed all of the properties in custodial receivership under the supervision of Larry Soehren, an executive with Spokane commercial real estate services provider Kiemle & Hagood Co.

The properties on Division were to be auctioned off at trustee's sales scheduled for earlier this month, but the June 3 bankruptcy filings suspended the sales.

The DeCaros, who owned DeCaro's Italian Restaurant, at 3004 N. Monroe, for about 10 years, bought the 11,400-square-foot, former Import Market building, at 922 N. Division, in 1992 and moved their restaurant and lounge there. The DeCaros closed the operation in 1998 and converted the building into a retail strip center.

The Wendy's restaurant just south of there was constructed and opened in 1998.