CopperRidgebancruptcy Copper Ridge in Culpeper, which was a promising project. Unfortunately, at the end of 2006 as the market had turned and our builder partner pulled out, we could not find another builder partner for the project. After fighting on all fronts for more than a year, it was very clear we had absolutely no choice but to place Copper Ridge under the protection of bankruptcy. This was not the path we wanted, but it was the path our legal and financial advisers strongly recommended.

CopperRidge is situated 60 miles southwest of Washington, D.C. in the fast growing community of the Town of Culpeper. The Town of Culpeper was recently voted one of the Top 100 Small Towns in America. Copper Ridge also has the advantage of being located on the highest ridge in the Town, offering unparalleled local vistas of the Blue Ridge mountain range. Copper Ridge is further benefited by its close proximity to high-speed fiber optic lines. This proximity has resulted in three important adjacent developments: the new Germanna Community College, the new Terremark technology campus, the United States Library of Congress’ National Audiovisual Conservation Center, and the longstanding S.W.I.F.T. facility. Copper Ridge also boasts plans for a centrally located grand community center, two pools (indoor and outdoor), an outdoor terraced amphitheater, outdoor sport courts, a meandering walking and bicycling trail, covered bus shelters, and its being within walking distance to Germanna Community College and the vibrant shops in downtown Culpeper. Zoning: R2 age-restricted. Entitlements/Project Status: 488 total age-restricted units: 189 single family detached lots, 203 single family attached lots, and 96 condominium units. Copper Ridge is fully engineered, site plan approved, and ready for bonding and construction. The overall project has been designed with 5 construction phases. All phases are approved.

Paul Bliley Jr., an attorney with Williams Mullen of Richmond, 804-783-6448, According to a deed of trust on file in the Culpeper County Courthouse, Copper Ridge LLC purchased the four parcels, totaling 130 acres, for $9.2 million in 2005. Of that, $5,303,248 is owed to Eastford LLC of Richmond and $3,896,752 to Crown Jewel LLC of Washington, R.I., per the “the original principal amounts” as listed in a “substitution of trustee” document in the courthouse. Bliley is representing both in the upcoming auction, which will take place on the courthouse steps at 11 a.m. next Friday. The goal of the auction, he said, is to “try and get the best price.” The trustee’s sale notice, published in the Star-Exponent Monday, indicates “cash” as the terms of sale, with Bliley reserving the right to sell the parcels “individually or in bulk, whichever method brings the greater price.” He said Wednesday that he is confident that at least one of the original lenders would show up and bid on the property. Another four or five people have also indicated interest. But what does the foreclosure mean for the new police station project? Culpeper Town Council approved a nearly double-the-density rezoning for Copper Ridge two years ago, expecting to gain $2.3 million in cash and 12 acres along Route 3 in return. The Council planned to use the land for its already designed police station. All that was contingent, of course, on Copper Ridge getting built. Now what? “It really all depends on what we decide the next step will be,” Mayor Pranas Rimeikis said Wednesday. “We didn’t have pay for the site with the Copper Ridge (rezoning), but we had some pretty hefty site costs,” he said of the site, formerly owned by the Culpeper Stone Company. Just to fill in “the hole” on the land would have cost the town half a million dollars, the mayor said. Site costs would surely decrease elsewhere, he added, but the town won’t get the land for free. “We are looking at a number of options,” said Rimeikis, who along with Vice Mayor Billy Yowell cast the only votes against the Copper Ridge rezoning. “I’m happy that many houses are not being built.” Town Council continues to consider its options for a new police station in closed session. “I’m mad as hell about this,” Councilman Chris Snider said at the August 28 public safety committee meeting after waiting month after month, to no avail, for Angler to turn over the land deed to the town. Assistant Town Manager Noah Simon, who worked closely with architects on a new police station at that site, said the housing market would have to improve significantly before Copper Ridge moved forward. Design of the police station through Moseley Architects cost the town $675,400. “We are working on backup sites,” Town Manager Brannon Godfrey said at the August 28 meeting, telling the committee that it needed to discuss those options in closed session. That didn’t make Snider happy. “I feel like we’re hamstrung and at someone else’s mercy,” he said. “We have something we really need to get done and we’re stuck.” The Culpeper Police Department currently operates with 7,628 square feet in an overcrowded station on West Cameron Street. A space needs study from 2000 found it was about 4,000 square feet short. The new police station along route 3 would have been 24,000 square feet. While the town continues to grapple with its next step regarding the police station project, the future of the Copper Ridge Active Adult Community is unclear. Town Engineer Chuck Stephenson, director of the planning department, said regardless of the foreclosure, the detailed site plan - which the planning commission unanimously endorsed last May - remains valid for five years from its approval or until May of 2011. Perhaps another developer will purchase the plan or maybe it’ll never get built. “The land did go through a rezoning,” Stephenson said, “so it has to be developed per the rezoning proposal, no matter who develops it. That is set in concrete.” The land use could change if the property is rezoned again, he added. The Copper Ridge Active Adult Community on East Chandler Street is the latest victim of the slumping housing market. Two years ago, it was billed as a baby boomer paradise that would feature an indoor pool and amphitheater among other luxury amenities for its 55-and-older residents. Builder Engle Homes pulled out of the project earlier this year. Now, the land on which the 490-home development was to be built - adjacent to the new section of Culpeper National Cemetery - is in foreclosure and will be sold at auction Oct. 19. To add insult to injury, the foreclosure throws another wrench in the town’s police station project. According to trustee Paul Bliley Jr., an attorney with Williams Mullen of Richmond, Copper Ridge developer Angler Development, based in Warrenton, failed to make payments on the Chandler Street land as specified in the bank note, and that’s when it went into foreclosure. Angler’s Steve Vento, manager of the Copper Ridge project, could not be reached for comment Wednesday.