West Shore Associates files for bankruptcy protection
Tampa Bay Business Journal - by Janet Leiser Staff Writer
TAMPA — The owner of the former Wenczel Tile Co. property on South West Shore Boulevard is seeking bankruptcy court protection four years after buying the site out of bankruptcy.
West Shore Associates Inc. filed a Chapter 11 petition in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Middle District of Florida on Nov. 3. The entity claims assets and debts between $1 million and $10 million, the petition states. A list of West Shore Associates’ largest unsecured creditors wasn’t included.
John McCrocklin, president and director of West Shore Associates, declined comment, and his bankruptcy attorney, Allan C. Watkins of Tampa, didn’t return calls.
In 2004, West Shore Associates, based in Boca Raton, paid $58,000 for the 13-acre site that was home to a tile manufacturing plant for several decades until Wenczel Tile declared bankruptcy in the early 1990s.
The property sat for years, contaminated by chemicals from the plant.
At the height of the market in 2005, investors were interested in McCrocklin’s property, land broker Bill Eshenbaugh said. But buyers, who were closing deals within as little as 30 days, weren’t willing to wait years for the property to receive a clean bill of environmental health.
Shifting uses
Last June, the city council rezoned the land to allow four apartment buildings with a total of 246 units, plus 6,500 square feet of retail and restaurant space.
An apartment complex, if built, would face competition. Upscale Casa Bella on Westshore opened late last year across the street. It was also built by Zaremba Land Development, which signed an agreement to buy McCrocklin’s property in April 2007 but didn’t acquire the land.
Zaremba, a Cleveland-based builder with four apartment complexes under construction in the Tampa Bay area, decided against proceeding with McCrocklin’s development, said Nicholas Husak, regional director of development at Zaremba.
“We put it on hold due to economic conditions,” Husak said.
Two months ago, WRS Infrastructure & Environment Inc. placed a lien on McCrocklin’s site, claiming the firm is still owed $311,987 of its $1.28 million tab for cleanup work.
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection certified that 17,550 tons of contaminated soil at the site were removed or treated, which meant the deed no longer had to state the land was under hazardous waste management.
jleiser@bizjournals.com | 813.342.2468
Related Industry News |
Latest News |
