Georgia Bankruptcy Blog

The Atlanta Business Chronicle has a front-page article, Bankrupt Home Developer Owes $131,000,000, about another real estate developer who is caught up in the real estate crash. 

Stephen H. Macauley, president of The Macauley Companies Inc., has filed for personal bankruptcy, reporting debts of $131 million. In recent years Macauley has completed 32 communities with more than 11,000 homes both north and south of Atlanta.

Those projects include The Lakes of Holly Springs, a 545-acre mixed-use site in Cherokee County; Walden Park, a 591-acre, 806-home community in South Fulton; The Lakes at Cedar Grove in South Fulton, a joint venture with Cousins Properties Inc.; Le Jardin, a 1,100-acre community in South Fulton developed with former Braves player Brian Jordan; the 668-acre Legacy Park and the 88-acre Ridenour in Cobb County. ...

Macauley on May 1 filed for a Chapter 7 liquidation of assets in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Atlanta and now lists his occupation as unemployed. He earned $835,000 in 2006 and $434,000 in 2007, according to court documents.

He says he filed bankruptcy because the value of his assets today is about half of what they were underwritten for, so there was no way for him to pay the debt.  The housing bust “has brought everyone down,” Macauley said in a phone interview. “It’s very sad what is happening to the banks, and what is happening to my friends. So many good people have been brought down. But I’m optimistic we’ll get through this.”

I am very saddened to read of what has happened to Mr. Macauley who is one of my heroes in Atlanta. Mr. Macauley has done so much in the development of South Fulton County. He has completed 32 communities with more than 11,000 homes both north and south of Atlanta. Those projects include The Lakes of Holly Springs, a 545-acre mixed-use site in Cherokee County; Walden Park, a 591-acre, 806-home community in South Fulton; The Lakes at Cedar Grove in South Fulton, a joint venture with Cousins Properties Inc. He has won 45 awards and distinctions, including the Atlanta Regional Commission’s Development of Excellence Award.

In my opinion, it would have been nice for the Government to bail Mr. Macauley out. If there is anything like bailout, he deserved the bailout more than AIG. I am deeply sorry for what this economic crisis has done to so many good people but I am sure Mr. Macauley will be back to create more signature land marks in Georgia again.