Bedford County builder files bankruptcy

A developer in Bedford County filed for bankruptcy Wednesday morning, halting the foreclosure on a subdivision that was slated for auction at noon.

Custom Homes by Anthony filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which freezes the company’s debts and allows time to create a plan to reorganize and pay the debts.

The company’s Jason Anthony Manor subdivision on Cottontown Road had been up for auction after Christiansburg-based First National Bank foreclosed on the property in April.

At least two other construction companies in Bedford County have filed for bankruptcy this year.

“We just found out this morning that the bankruptcy was going to be filed. We had no prior indication that it was going to be filed,” said Paul Black, a Roanoke attorney representing Stellar One, the parent bank of First National, on Wednesday.

“Unfortunately, it’s a sign of the times I believe,” Black said. “It’s not uncommon for someone who’s trying to hold on to collateral to file for bankruptcy to keep it while they’re trying to work themselves out of the situation.”

Leighton Houck, a member of Caskie & Frost, P.C. in Lynchburg, said Chapter 11 bankruptcy is known as a “reorganization bankruptcy.”

It “allows the debtor company to attempt to compose a plan that would reorganize its business and pay some or possibly all of his indebtedness,” Houck said.

Houck represents creditors in bankruptcy proceedings. He is not currently involved in the case with Custom Homes or other builders in the area.

Anthony Inturrisi, the principal of Custom Homes by Anthony, has built houses in the Forest area since the mid-1990s.

He started construction on the Jason Anthony Manor subdivision last year using a credit line from First National Bank.

He completed one home by October and started several more. But then construction stalled. Teresa Polinek, a real estate agent listing the property, said the bank pulled Inturrisi’s financing when the national housing market began struggling.

The bank filed foreclosure documents in April. Black had arranged for Torrence, Read & Forehand Auctions to sell the 32 parcels on Wednesday, but the bankruptcy filing canceled the auction.

The documents filed Wednesday show that Custom Homes by Anthony has $3.4 million in assets, including the land at Jason Anthony Manor, and $2.1 million of liabilities.

Those liabilities include debts to several area businesses and unpaid real estate and personal property taxes in Bedford County.

Neither Inturrisi nor his lawyer returned calls Wednesday to comment.

Two other builders in Bedford County recently have filed bankruptcy papers.

Rodney K. Williams Builder Inc., of Forest, filed for Chapter 11 on May 21. Bedford Builders, of Colbrook Road in Bedford, filed for bankruptcy in March.