Brandon Chasen, a Baltimore real estate developer whose company was once recognized as one of the fastest-growing businesses in the United States, has agreed to enter bankruptcy.

Lawyers for three creditors — Sandy Spring Bank, Ferguson Enterprises and Southland Insulators of Maryland Inc. — on June 16 filed a petition to force Chasen into Chapter 7 liquidation bankruptcy.

Instead of contesting the move, Chasen’s attorney, Adam Freiman, wrote in court documents that his client had agreed to voluntarily proceed.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Nancy V. Alquist on Wednesday granted the request. Chasen must file certain information by Aug. 13 including a summary of his assets and liabilities.

In a rare statement, Freiman said his client agreed to the bankruptcy in the face of “overwhelming debt,” and is committed to paying back his creditors.

“Brandon Chasen is a young and dynamic entrepreneur who dedicated years of his life and resources to the rehabilitation of Baltimore City, investing in and revitalizing properties that many others ignored or abandoned,” Freiman said.

Freiman said the company has faced “unsubstantiated and sensational allegations” in the press and on social media about mismanagement. He pushed back against accusations that the company’s construction arm attempted to conceal a jet from creditors, which he called baseless.

He said his client “has not, at any time, attempted to hide assets or evade legal responsibility.”

Chasen Cos. faced an “unprecedented combination of external pressures” ranging from the COVID-19 pandemic to the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, which affected supply chains and raised the costs of some building materials, Freiman said. Soaring interest rates on commercial loans, he said, also played a significant role in the company’s decline.

When it became clear that the business could not survive, Chasen stopped taking any salary, benefits or other compensation, Freiman said.

“Mr. Chasen remains focused on seeing this process through with dignity and honesty,” Freiman said. “Once this process concludes, he hopes to apply the many lessons — both painful and profound — he has learned to build again, contribute again, and demonstrate that redemption and renewal are possible, even after hardship."

Chasen Cos. was once a major force in the housing market in Baltimore. A Baltimore Banner data analysis in 2024 found that in Fells Point, the firm owned 10% of all available multifamily properties.

Meanwhile, Chasen, 39, embraced a luxury lifestyle that featured penthouse suites, designer clothes and yachts. He and his business partner, Paul Davis, once planned to embark on a $100 million nationwide expansion.

But Chasen Cos. later scaled back the proposal. The business has faced an avalanche of lawsuits from lenders and contractors. And construction has stalled on several major projects in Baltimore, including the old Meyer Seed Co. warehouse and One Calvert Plaza downtown skyscraper.

Earlier this year, Alquist granted a request from creditors to force Chasen Construction LLC into bankruptcy.

The construction arm of the company reported that it had $0 in assets — and more than $39.5 million in liabilities.