C.C. Myers, the contractor whose road-building exploits have become the stuff of California legend, said Friday he is working to stave off foreclosure on his Auburn area country club development.
Wachovia Bank, in a 23-page complaint filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Sacramento, alleged that Myers has defaulted on more than $61 million in loans and is seeking to foreclose on the 1,100-acre Winchester Country Club.
Myers, in a statement issued Friday afternoon, said that Winchester is in discussions with "a number of potential strategic partners and financiers" and that he does not expect the foreclosure filing to affect the ownership or management of the club or development.
"I've faced many emergency projects in my lifetime, and there are always solutions," he said. "The clock is ticking, and we will find an answer here, too."
The deepening woes in the credit and real estate markets are negatively affecting refinancing for many real estate development projects.
The area's real estate slump has shelved a number of projects and forced one builder – Dunmore Homes – into bankruptcy. Builders from Southern California-based Pardee Homes to Wisconsin-based Homes by Towne and Rocklin's Nouveau Homes have shuttered home developments in recent months.
Myers described Winchester Country Club as his vision and investment for more than 18 years. The posh private resort, which opened in 2000, features estate homes and a championship golf course by legendary designers Robert Trent Jones Sr. and Jr.
Jones Sr. designed or redesigned some of golf's most storied sites, including Augusta National, home of the Masters tournament; Tulsa's Southern Hills, home of last year's PGA Championship; and Spyglass Hill Golf Club in Pebble Beach.
More than 110 families live in Winchester. In fact, Myers was building an 8,000-square-foot home there for himself and his wife, Janelle. It was to be a showcase that drew buyers.
According to court documents, Myers' Winchester Properties LLC entered into a $65.8 million loan agreement in 2005 to develop and refinance the club's unsold homesites, build the golf course and a clubhouse, with the caveat that if Myers' group defaulted, the entire unpaid balance would come due.
Court records show that troubles began for Myers' development in January as defaults on principal and interest began to pile up.
In October, Wachovia sent notice that it was calling back the loan and that it might pursue foreclosure proceedings.
Then last month, Wachovia filed two notices of default in Placer County, calling for an amount described in the federal complaint as "substantially exceeding $61 million, growing daily, and to be established at trial."
U.S. District Judge Ronald S.W. Lew has been assigned to the case.
The Winchester financial woes were mounting even as Myers enjoyed acclaim for the breathtaking speed of bridge and freeway projects completed by C.C. Myers Inc., his Rancho Cordova-based bridge and highway firm.
In May, Myers applied his pedal-to-the-metal approach to the MacArthur Maze, the crucial Interstate 580 connector that collapsed after a tanker truck explosion and fire, rebuilding it in just 26 days and winning a $5 million bonus for the rapid turnaround.
In a Labor Day weekend gambit, Caltrans closed the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge and handed Myers' firm the task of tearing down a portion of the bridge and replacing it with a seismically stronger segment.
Myers' crews beat a 5 a.m. Tuesday deadline by 11 hours, readying the span in time for post-holiday traffic.
The Bee reported in September that Caltrans officials were working with Myers on another Bay Bridge closure and seismic retrofit project planned for 2009 that will be part of a multibillion-dollar overhaul of the 71-year-old span.
C.C. Myers Inc. is not one of the borrowers in the Winchester loan agreement and is not a party to Wachovia's complaint.
