Sold to highest bidder - text of Morning Call story Feb 23

[FLG]

We might have been better off with a sale to Hovnanian, but at least it is moving.


TH Properties sells remaining Whitfield Estates lots
National Penn Bank affiliate buys 83 lots in Upper Macungie for $1.8 million from builder in Chapter 11

by Patrick Lester
February 23, 2010

The unfinished portion of TH Properties' Whitfield Estates development in Upper Macungie Township has been sold to DFM Realty for $1.8 million.

DFM, an affiliate of National Penn Bank, submitted the highest of three bids for the Whitfield properties during an auction last week. The purchase was approved Thursday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Philadelphia.

THP, a Harleysville builder that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in April 2009, auctioned 83 Whitfield lots as part of its ongoing bankruptcy case. An estimated 300 homes in the development already are occupied, but construction was shut down after the bankruptcy filing.

Upper Macungie supervisors in September declared THP in default for failing to complete improvements and eventually took $88,544 from the developer's escrow fund to pave and fence portions of the development.

The $1.8 million purchase price was a credit bid, according to court records. National Penn Bank, headquartered in Boyertown, has claimed in court documents it is owed $6.5 million from THP for loans it provided for the Whitfield Estates work.

Catharine S. Bower, a spokeswoman for National Penn Bancshares, would not discuss the company's plans for the development.

''It's premature to say more than the property was purchased as part of a bankruptcy transaction,'' Bower wrote in an e-mail.

Upper Macungie Supervisor Kathy Rader said last month the new owner can begin construction once all of the relevant permits are signed over from THP. Bruce Wlazelek, the township's community development director, estimated it could take three years to finish the development.

National Penn Bancshares says it has $9.7 billion in assets and 127 offices in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Delaware. The company says it is the fourth-largest bank holding company based in Pennsylvania. It became the Lehigh Valley's second-largest bank company in 2008 when it purchased KNBT.

The Whitfield Estates sale is expected to be finalized by March 10. New Jersey-based K. Hovnanian Pennsylvania Acquisitions, which bid $1.75 million, is the ''backup bidder,'' court records show.

[pville]

Talk about blood in the streets- those lots which are improved (roads are built) went for less than $22,000 each! At one point they were probably worth more than 100k each. Pennies on the dollar.

[LeftHanging]

Can someone tell me if the lots that were sold actually belonged to someone that had a deposit on it. If so, do you know what happens if they do.