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Bankruptcy Leads To Land Auction

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By KEVIN WIATROWSKI, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 22, 2007

LAND O' LAKES - At 9:30 this morning, the sheriff's office will open the bidding on land just off Collier Parkway that was approved for an office building in 2005.

The auction will take place at the sheriff's headquarters on Little Road in New Port Richey.

The proceeds will go toward satisfying a judgment for $100,000 issued last month against Hillsborough County-based Burcaw Development Group and owner Laurie Burcaw of Lutz.

Today's auction is the latest step in the unraveling of speculative land deals Burcaw made at the height of the Tampa Bay area's building boom two years ago.

In addition to today's auction, Burcaw is defending herself in foreclosure proceedings begun in March by Florida Capital Bank.

Court records show Burcaw borrowed more than $3 million from Florida Capital in a mix of mortgages and revolving lines of credit in 2005. She used those funds to buy 20 acres at Lake Patience and Kristen roads in Land O' Lakes and 23 acres at U.S. 301 and Maltby Road in Zephyrhills with plans to build residential subdivisions.

The foreclosure also covers 19 acres outside Plant City that Burcaw bought in June 2005.
Bank officials began foreclosure proceedings after Burcaw missed her February loan payment, according to court records.

A couple months after the foreclosure filing, Burcaw Development Group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to get a chance to reorganize and deal with its creditors.

In its bankruptcy filings, Burcaw Development says it owes its 20 largest creditors more than $40 million total. About a third of that is owed to Laurie S. Burcaw, the company's president and sole stockholder.

Calls to Burcaw's office in Hillsborough County were met with a message that the phone number has been disconnected. Burcaw's lawyer, Frank Miranda, declined to comment about his client's case.

Today's sale affects 1.8 acres Burcaw bought in late 2004 through Buca Development LLC, a subsidiary of Burcaw Development Group. Burcaw struck a deal with Matthew Campo in 2004 to buy his property behind Childtime Children's Center in Land O' Lakes for $180,000.

At the time of the sale, Campo was vice president of Burcaw & Associates, Burcaw's engineering firm. Campo later became president of both the engineering firm and Burcaw Geotechnical Group, which does drilling and other earth work ahead of development.

Last month, a circuit court judge ruled Burcaw owes Campo $100,000 plus court costs.

Burcaw won county approval in 2005 to build 18,000 square feet of office space on the former Campo land. But Willow Bend Professional Park was never developed. County officials waited six months for Burcaw to respond to questions about her construction plans before shelving the project in early 2006.

Through her various companies, Burcaw, a professional engineer, has done a variety of residential and commercial work in Pasco, Hillsborough and other counties. Recent Pasco projects include the Chapel Pines subdivision in Wesley Chapel and Concord Station in Land O' Lakes.

The company was honored in recent years as one of the fastest-growing engineering firms in Florida and one of the top 25 in the Tampa Bay area.

Reporter Kevin Wiatrowski can be reached at (813) 948-4201 or kwiatrowski@tampatrib.com.

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