December 27, 2006

California-based Frontier Homes has offered to buy properties left abandoned in Maricopa and Casa Grande by Turner-Dunn Homes and to work with buyers to complete 2-year-old sales contracts.

Frontier has to finish a public subdivisions report for the Arizona Real Estate Department and will have a month to examine the properties and economics of the deal before seeking Bankruptcy Court approval, according to Dan Collins, an attorney in the bankruptcy trustee's office.

"From what I can tell, (Frontier) certainly seems to have the ability to close the deal," Collins told The Arizona Republic. "Now, the question is whether they want to close the deal."

Scottsdale-based Charlevoix Homes LLC had planned to take over the properties but backed out last week.

Mike Dwight, a senior vice president at Frontier, said home buyers still might get into homes if they want them, perhaps at a lower price than those of two years ago. New-home prices in Pinal County two years ago were tens of thousands of dollars higher.

"Our intent is to reach an accommodation," Dwight said. "If we can, they won't be disappointed."

In another last-minute move, bankruptcy Judge James Marlar rejected a reorganization play by Turner-Dunn owner Marc Dunn, who claimed he had financing from Mesa-based HSS Development Inc. to complete the properties.

Former Turner-Dunn President and partner Louis Turner, who left the company late last year and had his ownership stake bought out for $1.5 million before the spring construction stoppage, said he is owed at least $65,000.

The Arizona Department of Real Estate is still investigating Turner-Dunn, and the Bankruptcy Court trustee is reviewing the company's financial transactions before and after bankruptcy.

©Casa Grande Valley Newspapers Inc. 2006