Clark Turner Homes LLC has filed for voluntary Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection, a turnaround for the Harford County developer that once hoped to gain from a projected population boom around Aberdeen Proving Ground amid the military’s Base Realignment and Closure program.
Belcamp-based Clark Turner Homes listed liabilities between $1 million and $10 million in a Nov. 12 filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Maryland. The company also listed assets between $1 million and $10 million while indicating that it expects at least some funds to be available for unsecured creditors.
Managing member Clark Turner and the company’s attorney, James A. Vidmar of Yumkas, Vidmar, Sweeney & Mulrenin LLC in Columbia, could not be reached for comment. Documents available Thursday do not show how the company reached its current position or its ultimate goal in its bankruptcy filing.
Chapter 7 filings typically result in a company’s liquidation. However, it is possible for companies filing for Chapter 7 protection to reach a deal with creditors allowing it to avoid liquidation.
Court documents list 142 creditors ranging from lumber suppliers to landscapers, builders, attorneys and banks. Notable creditors include American Express, Baltimore Gas & Electric Co., Cecil Bank, Chesapeake Bank of Maryland, Comcast, Delmarva Power, Erie Insurance Group, Federal Express, IHeartMedia, Regal Bank & Trust, Revere Bank, Rosedale Federal Savings and Loan, UPS and Verizon.
Several government creditors are also listed – the City of Havre de Grace, the City of Aberdeen, Cecil County and Harford County. A meeting of creditors is scheduled for Dec. 22.
Clark Turner Homes and its Signature Homes projects like Residences at Bulle Rock once seemed positioned to benefit from a projected BRAC boom in Harford County. But the mortgage crisis made buyers rethink closing in 2008, and the company faced challenges finding financing as bank lending dried up. It pursued other financing sources, including private investors, as it sought funding for The Trails at Beech Creek, a $90 million, 768-home development on the site of the former Beechtree Golf Course in Aberdeen.
The company has also been part of development in Baltimore County and Cecil County.