Site search
sponsored by
News
ENLARGE
A day before owners of the North Star project were to auction off their defaulted property on the courthouse steps, they filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the Union has learned.
Chapter 11 bankruptcy allows corporations and partnerships to reorganize their business and pay creditors over time while continuing to operate.
Sandy Sanderson, owner of Sanderson Communities of Bend, Ore., and his partners in North Star/Grass Valley LLC owe Citizens Bank $2.2 million.
The bankruptcy filing has bought the developers time.
“What we’ve done is postpone the sale for three weeks pending further information,” said Tim Peterson, executive vice president of Citizens Bank.
On Thursday, Citizens received a notice from debt collector Placer Foreclosure that
North Star developers had filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Peterson said.
“North Star/Grass Valley LLC filed an incomplete filing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of the Eastern District of California and received an automatic stay dated 11/13/08,” Peterson said, reading from an e-mail.
Sanderson said he plans to secure financing for his project on 762 acres, one of four special development areas proposed on the outskirts of Grass Valley in recent years.
“We’re not giving up. We’ll be the developers,” Sanderson said.
Plans for the project have been only conceptual so far, and the city of Grass Valley has not approved anything. Last year, Sanderson downscaled the number of homes in the North Star project from 2,140 to 438 residences.
Sanderson thought he had found financing to pay off the debt to Citizens, but in recent weeks those prospects fell through, he said.
“The credit markets are really giving us a rough time,” Sanderson said.
Considered a “skeleton filing,” the five-page petition is missing key information, including the amount of debt owed and a list of assets, said an employee in the clerk’s office of U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Sacramento. Developers have until Dec. 1 to file the remaining documents, she said.
Sanderson Communities owns housing projects in Emmets and Star in Idaho; and Bend and Enterprise in Oregon.
An unfinished housing development known as The Vineyards in Anderson, near Redding, and once owned by Sanderson Communities is now listed for sale for $14.9 million, according to listing agent Scott Raymond of Sperry Van Ness.
Sanderson is no longer one of the owners of The Vineyards, Raymond added.
Sanderson declined to comment about the Anderson property.
To contact Staff Writer Laura Brown, e-mail lbrown@theunion.com or call 477-4231.
Chapter 11 bankruptcy allows corporations and partnerships to reorganize their business and pay creditors over time while continuing to operate.
Sandy Sanderson, owner of Sanderson Communities of Bend, Ore., and his partners in North Star/Grass Valley LLC owe Citizens Bank $2.2 million.
The bankruptcy filing has bought the developers time.
“What we’ve done is postpone the sale for three weeks pending further information,” said Tim Peterson, executive vice president of Citizens Bank.
On Thursday, Citizens received a notice from debt collector Placer Foreclosure that
North Star developers had filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Peterson said.
“North Star/Grass Valley LLC filed an incomplete filing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of the Eastern District of California and received an automatic stay dated 11/13/08,” Peterson said, reading from an e-mail.
Sanderson said he plans to secure financing for his project on 762 acres, one of four special development areas proposed on the outskirts of Grass Valley in recent years.
“We’re not giving up. We’ll be the developers,” Sanderson said.
Plans for the project have been only conceptual so far, and the city of Grass Valley has not approved anything. Last year, Sanderson downscaled the number of homes in the North Star project from 2,140 to 438 residences.
Sanderson thought he had found financing to pay off the debt to Citizens, but in recent weeks those prospects fell through, he said.
“The credit markets are really giving us a rough time,” Sanderson said.
Considered a “skeleton filing,” the five-page petition is missing key information, including the amount of debt owed and a list of assets, said an employee in the clerk’s office of U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Sacramento. Developers have until Dec. 1 to file the remaining documents, she said.
Sanderson Communities owns housing projects in Emmets and Star in Idaho; and Bend and Enterprise in Oregon.
An unfinished housing development known as The Vineyards in Anderson, near Redding, and once owned by Sanderson Communities is now listed for sale for $14.9 million, according to listing agent Scott Raymond of Sperry Van Ness.
Sanderson is no longer one of the owners of The Vineyards, Raymond added.
Sanderson declined to comment about the Anderson property.
To contact Staff Writer Laura Brown, e-mail lbrown@theunion.com or call 477-4231.
