News

Debts put homes project in limbo

By Chuin-Wei Yap
Published October 18, 2007

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LAND O'LAKES - On May 22, residents in the Lake Patience neighborhood showed up at the County Commission to protest the flooding risks and density of a proposal by Burcaw Development Group to put 36 homes on 20 acres along Lake Patience Road and Kristen Road.

They thought they had wrung a victory when Burcaw's representatives seemed unusually cooperative and the County Commission threw the proposal back to staff planners for re-evaluation.

"We are going to be buffered pretty well - if it ever gets built," said neighbor Edward Moore.

There could be a reason why things seemed to go the neighbors' way that day. About three weeks before that hearing, Burcaw Development Group already had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, a form of court-assisted reorganization that allows a company to regroup without having its assets seized by creditors.

Now, two Land O'Lakes properties linked to companies owned by developer Laurie S. Burcaw face different fates as the financially troubled Burcaw Development Group wades through reorganization proceedings.

An 11-acre site in the Willow Bend development off Collier Parkway and State Road 54 - once advanced as a commercial proposal by Buca Development LLC, a Burcaw company dissolved last month - will be auctioned off Monday, the Sheriff's Office said Wednesday. The Sheriff's Office conducts the sale because of a court-ordered levy on the property, spokesman Kevin Doll said.

Laurie Burcaw, listed in court filings as the company's sole shareholder and president, couldn't be reached for comment.

But Burcaw's controversial 20-acre residential proposal on Lake Patience and Kristen roads appears to be protected under bankruptcy rules for now.

Burcaw still holds a $1.6-million stake in the Lake Patience property, according to court filings.

The tax collector's office is owed $1,302 on the property, the bankruptcy papers say. But officials in the tax collector's office say there's also a bankruptcy notation on the Lake Patience property, which means the agency can't enforce tax collection on it.

The company owes a variety of debts - some secured, some not - totaling $26.6-million.

Chuin-Wei Yap can be reached at 813 909-4613 or cyap@sptimes.com.

[Last modified October 18, 2007, 07:31:16]