Commercial project managed by Angler declares bankruptcy

For the second time in seven months, a local project managed by Angler Development is in bankruptcy.

Culpeper Crossroads, a massive commercial development slated for the corner of U.S. 29 and Route 3, filed for Chapter 11 on May 27, according to the Alexandria division of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

Angler’s proposed 490-home Copper Ridge project on East Chandler Street went into bankruptcy in October and the lender recently repossessed the 130 acres of undeveloped property.

Angler Development of Warrenton is the same company the Culpeper County Board of Supervisors is considering for a $110 million water and sewer system that would be built through a public-private partnership.

Steve Vento, executive vice president with Angler and managing member of both Copper Ridge and Culpeper Crossroads, said his company still maintains ownership in the latter and plans to eventually develop the commercial project with a new lender.

Vento said $3.2 million is owed the primary Crossroads lender, though the property is worth more than four times that. He said the lender “just tried to grab the property from us” so as to capture the windfall in value.

Vento said his company paid the interest on the Crossroads loan through January.

“Right now, most of the banks are trying to grab whatever assets they can,” he said.

Filing Chapter 11 bankruptcy gives Angler time to reorganize its financing for the project, which is what Vento said they plan to do.

“I have proposals from two other lending sources that will be submitted to bankruptcy court in three to six months,” he said. “Then we will emerge (from bankruptcy) with a new lender in place.”

Vento said he didn’t expect work on the Crossroads project to begin until 2010.

“It is still a good project. It is still on track to building exactly what we wanted there,” he said.

Last June, the Culpeper County Board of Supervisors voted 4-3 to rezone the 66 acres — from rural to commercial — for Culpeper Crossroads. The large commercial project was to include a major department store along with another 500,000 square feet of big box stores and retail offerings.

Copper Ridge
As for Copper Ridge, billed in 2005 as a baby boomer paradise, the amenity-filled development plan started to struggle when the builder pulled out and the housing market tanked.

Vento said the project could not secure another lender once it went into foreclosure last year; eventually the land reverted to the lender.

Vento said he tried “vehemently” to secure the land along Route 3 promised to the town as part of the Copper Ridge rezoning on which the town had planned to build its new police station. He added that it was “my mistake” he didn’t push harder to have the land released to the town when it approved the rezoning three years ago.

Whoever purchases the entire Copper Ridge parcel will be obligated to develop via the council-approved plan or seek another rezoning.

Water and sewer
Vento downplayed the connection between his company’s water-sewer deal and the seeming instability in its other sectors.

“Water and sewer is a different source of revenue,” he said. “It is based on (selling) taps and is not based on market conditions.”

Every cent of the financing for the multimillion water and sewer system has to be in place before anything starts, Vento said. He also said the tap connections — the county would have to sell 128 per year — would serve a variety of projects, residential, commercial and industrial, around the “town environs.”

Vento said the county system would not duplicate the town system. However, much of the new commercial growth along Bus. 29 is already being served with town water and sewer.

Allison Brophy Champion can be reached at 825-0771 ext. 101 or

Will Angler’s bad news affect water and sewer proposal?
Sue Hansohn, one of three county supervisors who voted against the Culpeper Crossroads rezoning last June, said the project’s recent bankruptcy status would “certainly factor into my decision” regarding Angler Development’s water and sewer system proposal.

“The integrity of the company is important to me — I try to make sure that the integrity of the company is in good standing,” she said.

Hansohn said she was still not sold on Angler’s water and sewer proposal, noting, “I still haven’t seen the final financials.”

Supervisor Bill Chase said he remembered “there was a whole mess” involved in developing the Crossroads project.

“All Angler does is prepare the land and lay out the development, then they get their builders to do it,” he said, adding, “I’m not sure what went on.”

Chase said the board was very carefully considering the Angler water and sewer system proposal.

“If we felt there was any way the county would take it in the ear, we wouldn’t go through with it,” he said.

Supervisor Tom Underwood, the board’s newest member, said the water and sewer system proposal was not dependent upon Angler’s financial strength. Still, he said, he had many questions about the utility proposal.

“This news does not alleviate any of them or create others,” Underwood said of the Crossroads bankruptcy.

“Angler is a developer whose various subsidiaries are having financial challenges.”

He said he’d like to see the politics taken out of water and sewer, advocating for an independent authority to manage the essential utilities.

Underwood encouraged public participation in the process.

“I’m doing everything I can to get constituents to consider the issue and pay attention. Now’s the time to be paying attention.”

— Allison Brophy Champion
and Nate Delesline III