Developer Clark Turner, one of Harford County’s most prominent business figures, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection last week through a chapter 7 bankruptcy attorney for both himself and his home construction firm, according to court records.
Bankruptcy documents voluntarily filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Maryland on Nov. 12 put total assets for Belcamp-based Clark Turner Homes LLC between $1 million and $10 million, against debts of between $1 million and $10 million.
The Chapter 7 filing for Turner as an individual, however, place his personal assets at between $1 million and $10 million and his debt between $50 million and $100 million.
In 2010, Turner’s 768-unit Beechtree Estates project near Aberdeen Proving Ground was the recipient of a hotly-debated $14 million tax increment financing, or TIF, subsidy provided by Harford County and backed by then-County Executive David Craig. It was the first-ever such loan approved by the County Council, and was intended to be paid back by Turner through revenue created by the increase in property taxes stemming from the development.
The Clark Turner Homes LLC filing lists more than 140 creditors, including Harford and Cecil counties, the cities of Aberdeen and Havre de Grace, and a bevy of construction-related companies and contractors. Turner’s personal filing lists 36 creditors, including several banks, both counties, and the city of Havre de Grace.
A major housing developer in northeastern Maryland for more than 25 years, Turner was a driving force in the creation of the Bulle Rock community and golf course in Havre de Grace. While court documents do not specify the events leading to Turner seeking bankruptcy protection, the process highlights the importance of understanding insolvency and administration as tools for financial restructuring. Both filings claim the “debts are primarily business debts,” and Turner has expressed optimism that funds will be available to distribute to creditors of both himself and his firm.
Chapter 7 bankruptcies are focused on liquidation of the business or individual’s assets to pay creditors, as opposed to other forms of bankruptcies which allow adjustment of debt or a reorganization of a business.
A meeting of creditors in both proceedings and his bankruptcy attorney is scheduled for Dec. 22 in Baltimore, according to court documents.
The filings for Clark Turner Homes LLC and Turner himself, respectively, follow.
Yes, and those of us left In this unfinished development will probably be left to bear this tax burden that he is going to buy his way out of. I vote the tax judge say no to this request!
The plight of the Route 40 corridor (see; recent article) is like the universe, it never stops, or ends (if you believe in science).
Enjoy the auto auction coming to town, being moved from Bel Air. that’s what they are doing by the traffic circle.
Which traffic circle are you referring too? I’ve seen them clearing a lot of land by the circle on Rt 7 by Holly Wood. I wasn’t sure what that is supposed to be, but assumed more housing. Which would be odd given how gangbusters Beechtree is selling.
That’s going to be the new site for the auto auction.
Really? You got to be kidding me. Who would want to live across from an Auto Auction? That will do wonders for property values.
Soooooo……. how’s that new TIF plan working out for taxpayers, eh? I recall much opposition to this concept, by intelligent, educated, active citizens. Probability of doing another TIF depends, apparently, on what candidate needs an eager developer’s campaign donations.
This is what happens when Harford County government goes to bed with a developer. Hopefully people will wake up. It’s going on in all the towns in this county also.
Over $100,000 in campaign contributions to county politicians over the years from him and his various entities. Most of which went to our beloved David Craig. The scary thing is that this will be used by developers as a rallying cry as to why we need to loosen the zoning code to make county more friendly towards development. Turner will come out on the other side stronger than ever.
Yeah, but “development” is not an issue for some things.
Not many people want to live there, plain and simple. Its common sense by looking at the progress over all these years.
I saw a few new houses go from site work to siding in less than 3 months recently in those areas.
The other issue is building office space that sits unused for years. There is a serious problem with that, it needs figured out other than putting a large “LEASE” with a phone number on the front of the building and hope someone bites.
Beech tree, that is
The BRAC folks that everyone thought would buy in Beech and Bulle wanted better schools, and more than the Rt. 40 blight. That’s why most of them bought in Bel Air, Fallston, etc. And, that’s why those communities still aren’t selling. It is all about the schools for people with school aged children. This isn’t rocket science, and I’m surprised that the big name developers didn’t figure that out early in the planning stages.
Stay away from public choo choo, public bus, public water, and public sewer and you’ll be fine.
Not to mention, that those places are WAY over priced for what they are.
Cookie cutters.
The whole BRAC process is a disgraceful fraudulent process connived by in-the-know DoD high ranking officials who know d*mn well ahead of time where the next opportunity gaining bases are. Insider unethical real-estate transactions is what it is. So they buy cheaply and flip real estate, land, etc at excessive prices to DoD worker victims forced to relocate, Meanwhile, hundreds or thousands are victimized, leaving their families and loved ones, leaving communities they’ve lived in for decades, marriages broken up, even suicides. That alone is painful enough, but then to face this cr*p? If it hasn’t been done it needs to be done now and that is for a full investigation (even if by a news agency) on all these past BRAC real estate transactions to reveal who the buyers are just before BRAC announcements and then when they sell for the overpriced amount sometime after the announcement is made at the gaining bases. Now they are pushing for future BRACs to enrichen more insiders and all in the false name of “getting rid of unneeded DoD infrastructure”, or even worse “valuable money wasted on maintaining buildings and bases that is tying up funds that could be used against the war on terror and is risking lives.” All despicable lies.
Well, in the DoD’s defense, maybe they are tired of the areas near the base getting turned into ghetto’s and policed like NAZI Germany. Its awful difficult to send aspiring personnel to their doom and destruction. Families NOT getting the proper schools, security and the threat of their children being turned into little Hitler Youth by the Harford County powers that be. If you really want to blame someone, blame yourselves, for the constant electing of officials that seem to ignore the values of the American way of life and embracing the ideals of “Mein Kampf” in their stead……
I wonder if these empty buildings are a tax dodge. Put up a building and claim the depreciation against the income for the rest of your corporation, reducing your taxes to about nothing. It would be interesting to see their books.
The company is declared to have debt of up to 10M, but his personal debt is declared at up to 100M. What this tells me is it’s not so much about how tough developers have it but a guy who spends lavishly and beyond his means and obviously had it supported by a limited flow of income from the business. That means the entire thing collapsed as soon as the business slowed down – that’s not about the business, that’s about his spending habits. I remember clearly when his very public divorce was in the works, the now ex-wife was given $60,000 a month for expenses and that means that was their lifestyle. I have no sympathy.
When you’re business is extending beyond what banks will loan it, many business owners resort to attaching personal assets to get additional business financing.
Try educating yourself, you would sound smarter.
Go back and read about the divorce – they spent lavishly…she paid $170,000 cash for a Bentley, they traveled, nothing but the best. Then he began playing hide the millions transferring monies into phoney set up accounts and it was in the millions of personal cash not related to the business. For all of that to be gone and to have 100M in personal debt; don’t try to tell me it’s because he was wise and thrifty. Plus we gave him an extra 14M by paying for his infrastructure at Beechtree which was a ridiculous pipe dream to begin with. No sir, have no sympathy for making a piss poor business decision, running up debt beyond all reason. That 14M would have been better spent on what the county actually needs rather than more cash in Turner’s pocket to be wasted on so much nonsense. Boo hoo the pitiful poor developer.
Your. Get that straight then we’ll discuss sounding educated!
Moneytree trying to take 8-15 year old and make it seem relevant.
What an idiot.
But using your personal assets to “extend” your business is probably not smart business in the first place..
She sounds like another dime a dozen Gold Digger. For every wealthy man there’s a scheming scoundrel bimbo looking to steal their fortunes. You see it all the time.
The 100 million IS the alimony.
I’d like to look into those contributions more. Can you list the names of his various entities? I’d like to try to follow the money trail through the Campaign Finance Database.
Thanks!
Well, David had his Clack Tarner and we shouldn’t be surprised by the outcome, at our expense; Let’s see how the Glassman/ Bab Hackaday saga goes… but shame on us if we’re shocked again…. (it is a LOT more surprising that Barry is allowing himself to be used in this way; I suspected so much more from him; maybe he can redeem himself).
Well barry wont have time to show us his good ideas if he jumps immed into the Senate race…..he made a committment to his county’s citizens….and now is ready to bail. Shame.
BRAC and this building scheme was LONG before Glassman. Simply put…he over-extended his business. He stopped paying local sub-contractors. This put a lot of people out of work across the board.
On a side note, he needed STRONGER REALTORS representing his properties instead of the “List and Forget” idea to save a buck. I just stand on the side-lines and smile.
Gosh, I wonder what those elected employees are going to do now that one of their BIG monied political donors has temporarily taken the Clark Turner ATM offline?
All that glitters isn’t gold.
Soon to developing and building in Harford County, Tark Curner with zero debt and zero liabilities.
Another developer rewarded for poor financial management.
I see his house at 101 Tim Tam is owned by 103 Ebony Place LLC – surely an attempt to intentionally screw creditors. He built nice looking houses; but the construction quality was severely lacking. Hopefully, that is the end of CT now that he doesn’t have Craig to prop him up with taxpayer backed loans anymore.
Bought a Clark Turner home in the early 80’s in Box Hill. After they moved on his construction foreman made a statement in the papers that in the future they would focus on Quality not quantity. Sure made us feel comfortable…..
Similar thing is going on with the old Bel Air Academy property. The Florida based developer wants to build a four story apartment complex but was denied by the Bel Air town board of appeals. Now the developer submitted a request with the planning board to be rezoned so he can build whatever he wants. I hope the planning board denies it but my guess is they approve it and Bel Air packs another ton of apartments like sardines. Does the commissioners of Bel air vote on that also? Everyone needs to attend that meeting on Thursday December 3rd and tell the Bel Air Commissioners that we are tired of all the building and traffic.
The Bel Air town board will vote yes and let them build whatever. Ain’t nobody on that board got a set of balls big enough to vote no to anything. If I’m wrong then we shall see but I think I’m right
John Abraham is correct. All concerned fed-up citizens must start attending County Council meetings, Bel Air Town Board events, etcetera, in order to know what the heck our elected employees are doing. In addition, one of the greatest sources of development information is Friends of Harford. Their website is http://www.friendsofharford.com. Sign up for their e-news and you’ll really be stunned at what’s going on in Harford County.
The sad part of this is the long list of small Harford county and Maryland business’s, that Clark Turner is screwing out of their hard work, time and money due to his mismanagement. Clark should be left with nothing more than a 20 year old pos car to live in with a sign that says this is what happens to a megalomaniac when he trys to screw the middle class.
$50-100 MILLION in debt, that now he says he can’t pay? He shouldn’t be able to weasel out of that without having to forfeit a kidney or something.
How many here complaining about his BK’s would vote for someone who did the same thing 4 times and screwed over thousands of creditors? Hands? Hmmm don’t see too many in Harco.
A complete crook. Recently filed bankruptcy. Prior to filing, he transferred properties into the entity named Tws Tollgate, LLC; a company owned by his former President of Clark Turner Development, Daniel Whiteshurst. There are multiple homes that were to be under construction, and that are currently under construction where home owners are struggling to be able to afford completing their dream homes. Clark cannot be reached, and money is not being returned.
For Aaron Cahall,
Requesting a follow-up story on how this Chapter 7 filling effects those that live at The Trails of Beech Creek in reference to the TAX Increment Financing (TIF) and how that $14,000,000 will be paid back to Harford County Taxation and who is liable for that $14,000,000 TIF for ( Beechtree Estates). What is happening with the development and it’s future post filing Chapter 7. What is the future of the builder that was involved from the start of this up and coming new home development. What happen to his investment partner that started this development with the intent of supporting the BRAC. Where are all the supports that said, this is a win/win for all? Why was there not a After Action Review (AAR) from the BRAC and local government official to find what happen and why? Why wasn’t a survey done for those that purchased in this up and coming development that moved in support of the BRAC to include government employee, active duty military and military retiree that work at APG? The results would be disappointing and shocking. Question, how did this development become a rental community with two townhome grouping,10 each side by side with out homeowners receiving notification on any level? It is advertised as a Townhomes, Villas and Estate Homes, NOT A RENTAL COMMUNITY!
In response to tif liability:: I am a homeowner in the same boat and I was very disappointed to find out i purchased into a new home community that has townhome rentals that were done internally by the developers and development partners. The ten rentals are listed under TEN OAKS REALITY as 10 Rentals at The Trials At Beech Creek, Aberdeen, Maryland.
I was told by a representative at MUNICAP INC that there’s liability to the home owners if defaults there is a debt owed over a million dollars due to the TIF bond January 2016. But it will not affect the homeowners taxes until after July 2016.
How can this happen, Claimants filed for a total of 46.7 million in Turner’s personal bankruptcy .Only $3.4 million of the claims were listed as secured.
That’s $43.3 MILLION!!!!!! Wish I had friends at NBRS and Cecil Bank. This is beyond criminal.
The previous commenter should think of a unique username rather than steal the one that I have been using for over eight years on The Dagger. I would never use multiple exclamation points for emphasis as this person did.