National housing woes hit upscale Forest subdivision

By Bryan Gentry

Published: May 15, 2008

A 32-parcel subdivision once under construction in Forest is in foreclosure and slated for auction May 28.

Jason Anthony Manor on Cottontown Road was planned as an all brick-and-stone community. But development stalled last year with one home built and three more under way.

The developer, Anthony Inturrisi, has built homes in Forest for at least 10 years. This is the first time that foreclosure documents and multiple liens have been filed against him in Bedford County.

A Realtor involved with the project said Inturrisi “caught the brunt of the national housing market” when a bank pulled his credit line with fears of how $400,000 homes would fare.

“It’s just a shame,” said Teresa Polinek of Counts Realty Group, the real estate company that marketed the homes. “He’s one of the most prominent builders in the area.”

Inturrisi did not return phone calls requesting comment.

Mike Torrence, managing partner of the Lynchburg auction firm handling the May 28 sale, said he’s never auctioned off an entire subdivision in 28 years of the business.

It will be sold in 32 tracts so buyers don’t have to buy the whole subdivision.

Inturrisi has already had water and electric lines laid. The roads are finished as well.

“They’ve done all the ground work for that property, and everything’s in place,” said Torrence, of Torrence, Read & Forehand Auctions. “They spent all the money, got all the roads, got everything ready to go.”

According to land and finance records in Bedford County, Inturrisi has had dealings in the county since the mid-1990s.

His home-based business, Custom Homes by Anthony, received multiple construction loans and credit lines from several regional banks, paying off those loans after selling his homes, records show.

From 1998 to 2007, only one subcontractor filed a lien against any of Inturrisi’s homes in Bedford County.

Inturrisi bought land along Cottontown Road in February 2007 to build a subdivision. He named it Jason Anthony Manor after his son, and the streets — Maddie Lane and Toni Lane — were named for his granddaughters, Polinek said.

In May, Inturrisi received a credit line from First National Bank Corp., a Christiansburg-based bank he had worked with for years, to build homes there, according to financing statements.

Counts Realty Group listed the 32 lots while Inturrisi began building. “We had a lot of attention and activity,” Polinek said.

But as the summer wore on, the picture of the national housing market worsened. Home sales and prices at the national level declined.

The housing market woes did not hit full-force in the Lynchburg area. In 2007, slightly fewer homes sold than in the previous year, but prices rose.

“It’s taking a little longer to move a home, but the homes are actually increasing in value,” Polinek said. “We are holding our own here.”

Tina Friar, another Realtor with Counts Realty Group, said the highest-priced homes took the biggest hit. She said Inturrisi’s homes usually price in the $400,000 range.

That’s more than twice the region’s median home price reported by the Virginia Association of Realtors.

Still, some homes in that price range have sold in the Forest area. Hooper Woods, a subdivision close to Jason Anthony Manor, sold several homes for $399,000 to $500,000 last year.

But Polinek said the bank pulled Inturrisi’s credit line sometime last year due to the dive in the national market.

Bank officials did not return several calls for comment.

Inturrisi did finish building one home, on the corner of Maddie Lane and Cottontown Road, and had started several others.

But Polinek said the project couldn’t go forward without financing.

In December, subcontractors began filing mechanics liens against the subdivision and on two homes in other locations.

In all, 11 subcontractors have filed liens for a total of more than $111,000.

On April 2, First National Bank filed to have the subdivision property sold at a foreclosure auction.Polinek said it’s sad to see Inturrisi’s plans end this way. “If he had been able to finish the project and finish the homes, my personal opinion is that this (foreclosure) would not have happened,” she said.

While the 32 parcels at Jason Anthony Manor will be auctioned separately, it is possible they could be bought and developed together, Torrence said.

Polinek said the land has great potential if a new developer cares as much about the project as Inturrisi did.

“Whether someone else can come in and resurrect it, that’s just going to have to be seen.”