Wyndholme Village, the groundbreaking community for the elderly deaf proposed for a Southwest Baltimore hilltop, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection -- part of a last-ditch effort by the developer to save the $150 million project.
The bankruptcy filing forced the cancellation of a public auction Wednesday of the 24-acre parcel off Frederick Avenue, where ground was broken last summer. Construction has been stalled since fall, when a Denver-based firm withdrew its $7.1 million loan to the project.
That withdrawal prompted Wyndholme to default on a loan to the Metropolitan Bank of Cleveland, which had sought the auction.
"I went Chapter 11 to prevent the auction," says Jim Lancelotta, the Ellicott City developer who is Wyndholme's managing partner, and who was raised in a house on the land and whose mother, Grace Lancelotta, had been the only hearing person in her family. "I'm prepared to do whatever I have to do to preserve this project. I made a commitment to the deaf and hard-of-hearing community."
A spokesman for the Metropolitan Bank of Cleveland declined to comment yesterday.
If it is built, Wyndholme Village would be the nation's first private housing community exclusively for the elderly deaf. The project is being watched closely by Maryland's community of 300,000 deaf or hard-of-hearing seniors, as well as by administrators at Gallaudet University in Washington who have publicly supported Wyndholme.
But from the beginning, backers have conceded that the size and novelty of the 928 condominium project make it risky. Lenders familiar with Wyndholme have questioned whether the deaf community is large enough to support the project. Even Lancelotta has acknowledged that Wyndholme would be a better financial bet if hearing seniors could live there as well.
Lancelotta said this week that he remains optimistic. He called the bankruptcy filing Wednesday one of the "most rewarding days" in the four years that he has been planning Wyndholme. The project is $6 million in debt, but Lancelotta claims the immediate financial prospects have improved since a story about Wyndholme's troubles appeared in The Sun last month.
The Maryland Association of the Deaf has lent $10,000 to the project. Deaf seniors from around the country have pledged more than $100,000 in loans to the project, according to Wyndholme staff. And sales of the first 180 units in the project, long sluggish, have picked up, with six more sales of units in the past week.
Pub Date: 3/19/99