Foreclosure possible on loan for Bridgeton Harbor

BRIDGETON — A lender behind Bridgeton Harbor, the half-billion-dollar development intended to transform the tiny town across from New Bern, wants to foreclose on an estimated $16 million loan made to the Florida developers behind the project.

If lender Ambit Funding’s foreclosure attempt is successful, a court could force the public-auction sale of  more than a dozen pieces of property that were to make up Bridgeton Harbor, a large-scale, multifaceted development proposed to include a marina, and commercial, office and residential space amounting to about 600 homes. Bridgeton Harbor, a development proposed by Orlando-based Jupiter USA,  also came with the promise of a new wastewater-treatment plant for the town on the Neuse River.

The project was thought to be the development that would take Bridgeton out of “the shadow of New Bern,” town Commissioner Charles Freeman said when  Bridgeton Harbor plans were  unveiled to the public in November 2007.

On Friday, both Freeman and Bridgeton Mayor Rodman Williams said the possibility of foreclosure has put the town in a “wait-and-see position,” but they said the town would not lose any of its money, regardless of what happens.

Jupiter USA, a development arm of an investment group formed in Munich, Germany, had been acquiring land around Bridgeton since June 2006, “but always paid its own way,” Freeman said.

Calls seeking comment from Jupiter USA officials were unreturned Friday. But John King, the New Bern attorney who represents the developers, said his clients will continue to negotiate.

Ambit Funding, a Pennsylvania lender, is seeking to collect on a “bridge loan” made to Harborside 17 Partners, the limited liability corporation set up specifically for the Bridgeton Harbor project. Harborside 17 is affiliated with Jupiter USA and its company leaders, president Christian Thier and vice president Russ Mills.

“During difficult economic times, there are usually more negotiations necessary between borrower and lender and more concessions necessary from the lender,” King said on behalf of his clients.  “We have been and will continue to try and work with the lender to resolve the outstanding issues.”

Ernie Richardson IV is the New Bern attorney who has been appointed trustee during the foreclosure proceedings.

“In this case, they are looking for a neutral, detached party, and that’s what I am,” he said Friday.

A hearing on the foreclosure is set for Dec. 22.

“That hearing will be the format in which the court will establish whether we have the right to proceed with selling the property,” he said. “But we expect that to be contested, certainly.”

Signs giving notice of the foreclosure have already been tacked to several pieces of property.

Nikie Mayo can be reached at 252-635-5665 or nmayo@freedomenc.com.