AY to Oversee Sale of Major NC Master-Planned Community
The previous ownership had invested more than $100 million in improvements, including infrastructure such as roads, water, sewer, power, natural gas and fiber-optic service.
By Scott Baltic
The sale listing of Bright’s Creek, a gated luxury golf and resort community of more than 4,600 acres in Mill Spring, N.C., has been awarded to Avison Young.
Set in the Blue Ridge Mountains between Asheville and Hendersonville, Bright’s Creek features a 19-hole Tom Fazio–designed golf course and clubhouse, a member’s lodge with 11 rentable suites, a boutique equestrian center with 30 acres of paddocks, more than 120 finished custom home sites and six condominiums, as well as more than 3,000 acres available for future development under the master plan.
Bright’s Creek will be sold on behalf of Alianza Trinity Partners, the debtor in possession, through a Bankruptcy Section 363 process. Bids are due to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern Division of Florida, Miami Division, by Aug. 31.
A project in the making
The previous ownership had invested more than $100 million in improvements, including infrastructure such as roads, water, sewer, power, natural gas and fiber-optic service to each of the finished lots. There’s also an on-site phased water treatment facility that will provide for the project’s future water treatment needs, as well as treated irrigation for the golf course.
The current Bright’s Creek land plan is fully entitled and includes up to 1,370 units for residential development and plans for a 144-key resort hotel with spa and event center, an outdoor shooting club, and miles of hiking and biking trails within the gates.
The Avison Young team includes Michael Fay, principal & managing director of the firm’s Miami operations; Principals John Crotty and David Duckworth; and Senior Vice-President Gary Lyons. Avison Young has co-listed the property with Founding Principal Ben Jenkins and CEO Greg Vogel of Land Advisors Resort Solutions of Scottsdale, Ariz.
“Much of the revenue potential in luxury second home communities is generated in the second half of the development life after much of the heavy lifting on amenities and horizontal infrastructure is completed,” Fay said in a prepared statement. “This situation offers the next development team at Bright’s Creek a substantial advantage to purchase the land for nearly the original raw land cost, and to complete the remainder of the project with over $100 million already in the ground.”
Alianza Trinity Holdings, of Miami, acquired Bright’s Creek through an affiliate in August 2013. Its partnership with Lantern Business Credit, an affiliate of Lantern Capital Partners, of Dallas, began in July 2015.
The project went into foreclosure in April 2016, according to a report in a North Carolina newspaper. In brief, Lantern Business Credit alleged a series of breaches in connection with a $10.8 million loan, including lapsed insurance and unpaid vendors and taxes, while Alianza countered that its breaches were “technical” in nature, not financial.
Images courtesy of Avison Young
