The June 12, 2008 print edition (not online) of the Atlanta Business Chronicle has an article by Lisa Schoolcraft entitled Subdivision Developers Seeking Shelter In Court.
Developers with foundering subdivisions are seeking shelter in bankruptcy court, sometimes days before their foreclosed property goes up for auction. AK Builders, Inc. of Buford, Allegiance-Tyson Woods II Properties, LLC in Woodstock, Green Tree Estates LLC in Atlanta, and several others have filed for bankruptcy recently, just ahead of "Foreclosure Tuesday…"
AK Builders, Inc., which was developing Lynnfield Park in Lawrenceville, Millside Manor III in Dacula, Sedgefield of Hamilton Mill in Buford, and Creekside at Stonecrest in Sugar Hill, all in Gwinnett County, filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy June 3. Its largest creditors include Georgian Bank .. Gwinnett Community Bank… Peoples Bank and Trust…and United Community Bank.
Norris Lake, LLC, with property in DeKalb County, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy June 2. … New Market Properties, Inc., in Fayetteville, a land developer founded in 1995, filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy March 28.
The article also includes comments from lawyers, including your truly (who had to resort to the word "meltdown").
As banks foreclose on property from past-due loans, bankruptcy filings in the residential market have become more common and that is leading to a "complete meltdown," said Scott B. Riddle, bankruptcy attorney with The Law Office of Scott B. Riddle in Atlanta. On any given week, I get calls for subcontractors, suppliers and individual homebuilders. .. Lenders are not willing to lend on the same terms they were two and three yeas ago, Riddle said. …
The banks are forcing developers into bankruptcy, said L. Matt Wilson of The Wilson law Firm, P.C., who filed the paperwork for Allegiance-Tyson Woods II Properties. Banks need to avoid foreclosure, "which is a horrible remedy" for both developers and bankers, he said. The banks "end up putting their clients out of business, so they’ll never get paid." … "There will be banks going out of business, and that will have long-term economic effects on the community." …