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Ashley Glen In Foreclosure

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By KEVIN WIATROWSKI

kwiatrowski@tampatrib.com

Published: February 27, 2009

LAND O' LAKES - Mercantile Bank has begun foreclosure proceedings against Ashley Glen, a proposed 2-million-square-foot office complex at the junction of State Road 54 and the Suncoast Parkway.

As envisioned by developer Doug Weiland, the 260-acre project would include several multistory office towers and 600 apartments. Supporters have praised the complex as crucial to enticing high-paying jobs to Pasco County.

Through Ashley Glen LLC, Weiland took out a $17 million balloon mortgage at the end of 2007 to buy the property from homebuilder Standard Pacific. He later took a $7 million advance against the same property. The two loans were consolidated last June.

A cross-collateralization tied Summit View and Riverwood, two struggling projects in east Pasco, to the $24 million note.

Mercantile is seeking $21.5 million of the $24 million Weiland borrowed, according to its default notice. The default was triggered when Weiland missed an interest payment in January, according to court documents.

The default is the latest setback for Weiland and Ashley Glen.

•The developer has failed to make $2 million in road construction payments required under his 2007 development agreement with the county.

•The project's Community Development District has been unable to sell more than $112 million in bonds to pay for roads and other infrastructure on the property.

Weiland caught a break Thursday afternoon when county officials approved a plan to grade more than 25 acres at the rear of Ashley Glen that has been set aside for apartments.

That approval was required to sell the site to Wood Partners, a Georgia apartment builder. The proceeds from that sale will pay part of the money owed to the county, Weiland's attorney, Steve Booth, told the Development Review Committee during a 15-minute hearing Thursday.

The apartment sale will pay part - but not all - of the cost of building Ashley Glen Boulevard into the site on the north side of S.R. 54, project manager Tom Sunderman told the DRC. The rest of the road funds will be borrowed, Sunderman said.

"Does the owner have the financing?" Michael Nurrenbrock, the county's chief financial officer, asked Sunderman.

"Yes," Sunderman said.

Weiland filed paperwork Thursday seeking an 18-month extension on the schedule of road payments - one of a dozen or more developers who have taken the same step in the wake of the real estate collapse.

Weiland declined to comment on the foreclosure filing. In an interview before Thursday's action, Weiland said the extension request was the logical step in the current real estate market.

"It just doesn't make sense to make those payments now," Weiland said. "It is in everyone's interest to set up a new, stable situation."

Ashley Glen is the largest of a half-dozen developments Weiland, a former spinal surgeon, has under way in Pasco County. Of those, only one, Grey Hawk at Lake Polo, which lies just west of Ashley Glen, has standing construction.

Reporter Laura Kinsler contributed to this report. Reporter Kevin Wiatrowski can be reached at (813) 948-4201.

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