Ginter Place Associates in bankruptcy; Ginter Place condo project is not

Ginter Place Associates, a Richmond development company, is in bankruptcy. Don't confuse it with the Ginter Place condominium project, though, which is doing just fine.

The entities sit next door to each other off Westwood Avenue in Richmond's North Side.

"There is a misperception out there about Ginter Place condos and Ginter Place Associates," said Ted Ukrop, a co-owner of an investment group that owns the condo project in the former Richmond Memorial Hospital building. The two entities are owned separately, Ukrop said.

The condos, owned by GPCV LLP, are not part of Ginter Place Associates, nor are they involved in any way in the bankruptcy proceedings for the development company. The condo project is doing fine, Ukrop said.

Ginter Place Associates, which owns property east of the condo building, was forced into an involuntary bankruptcy petition late last month to stop a foreclosure on one of its buildings.

The bankruptcy filing includes the historic Laburnum House next door to the condominiums.

According to filings in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Richmond, Ginter Place Associates had failed to pay monthly installments since November on a $2 million loan, which is now owned by Oregon-based StanCorp Mortgage Investors.

The mortgage company accelerated the entire loan balance, which was secured by the Laburnum House and four adjoining buildings, court records show.

The lender proceeded to foreclose on the 111,600-square-foot property, court records show.

Three creditors filed the involuntary bankruptcy petition on behalf of Ginter Place Associates to stop the foreclosure.

Petitioning creditors who started the bankruptcy proceedings are James S. Ray, G. Thomas Bondurant Jr. and the Troutman Sanders law firm. Ray and Bondurant are each owed $30,000. The law firm is owed about $41,000, court records show.

Ray and Bondurant also are debtors on a $2 million promissory note along with Shane Parr. Ray, Bondurant and Parr are principals of Ginter Place Associates.

The petitioning creditors did not want the property to go into foreclosure, said John Selbach of Cantor Arkema law firm, who represents Ginter Place Associates. "They were in talks with developers and buyers," he said. "It was in everyone's best interest to sell it on the market. It would have been foolish to let it go into foreclosure."

It would be beneficial for the neighborhood if the property was sold at market value rather than a discounted foreclosure price, Selbach said.

A bankruptcy judge will need to approve the sale of the property, he said.

The 14,423-square-foot Laburnum House, built in 1906 at 1300 Westwood Ave., was on the market last July for less than two weeks for $7 million. It is unclear why it was taken off the market.

Ginter Place Associates bought the house, the old hospital and its 14.5-acre campus in 2002 for $1.55 million.

Ginter Place Associates sold off pieces of the property over the years, including the hospital building, where Ginter Place condos are located. The group still owns the house and adjoining properties, including a building leased by the Zacharias Ganey Health Institute.

"We don't expect the bankruptcy to affect our operations," said Dr. Madge Zacharias, a partner in the institute, a health club.

"The condos are in good shape," Ukrop said. "They are for sale, and we just sold two last weekend."

A total of six condos have sold in the 69-unit building since it opened last fall.

Others investors in the condo project are Edwin Gaskin, and Ukrop's father, James E. Ukrop, chairman of Ukrop's Super Markets Inc. and First Market Bank.

Contact Carol Hazard at (804) 775-8023 or .