ST. LUCIE COUNTY — More than a year after developers of the planned Cloud Grove had the county put the controversial 12,000-home project “on hold,” their creditor has added it to the Treasure Coast’s ranks of foreclosed properties.

“I imagine this pretty much closes any opportunities for that project,” St. Lucie County Commission Chairwoman Paula Lewis said this week.

MLIC Asset Holdings LLC, of Morristown, N.J., an affiliate of the lender, Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., filed the foreclosure suit in Circuit Court on Nov. 26, accusing the developers of failing to pay on a $48 million mortgage.

MLIC is scheduled to auction the Cloud Grove land to the “highest and best bidder” at 11 a.m. June 24 in the St. Lucie County Courthouse.

Officials from Lennar Homes, who were managing the project in a partnership with Centex Homes, could not be reached for comment.

The partnership, Florida Conservancy and Development Group, had planned to build about 12,000 homes on a 6,000-acre former grove south of the St. Lucie/Indian River county line.

It was billed as part of the state’s Rural Land Stewardship Program, a way to preserve the 16,466-acre Adams Ranch from residential growth.

Its development rights were to be transferred to Cloud Grove, allowing that new town’s density.

Adams Ranch officials declined to comment on the foreclosure.

Indian River County officials had concerns about Cloud Grove, considering 1,400 acres of Florida Conservancy’s land lay north of the county line.

But Indian River officials stepped back from the controversy in early 2007, when developers agreed to consider selling the 1,400 acres to the county or to the St. Johns Water Management Control District for a reservoir.

Indian River County Commissioner Gary Wheeler, whose district includes the north parcel, said he had mixed feelings about the foreclosure. He’s happy about urban growth being stalled, but not about the builders and investors being hit by recession.

“This is the time we need to reflect on where we’ve been and where we need to go in the future,” he said.

St. Lucie County Commissioner Chris Craft, whose district includes the bulk of Cloud Grove, said the foreclosure is forcing his colleagues to reconsider all their rural land, not just that area.

Records in the foreclosure suit show Florida Conservancy took out a $48 million mortgage from MetLife in December 2005 and filed a promissory note to repay it.

But records show the developer failed to send its quarterly payment in July 2008. That was four months after Florida Conservancy asked St. Lucie County to put its project on hold.

Cloud Grove for sale

Seller/mortgage holder: MLIC Asset Holdings LLC, an affiliate of Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., which made the original $48 million loan in December 2005

Developer/mortgagee: Florida Conservancy and Development Group, a partnership of Lennar Homes and Centex Homes

Project area: About 6,000 acres, covering 4,600 acres in St. Lucie County and 1,400 in Indian River County

Sale time: 11 a.m. June 24

Location: Jury assembly room, St. Lucie County Courthouse on Second Street in Fort Pierce
Henry A. Stephens, TCPalm.com

Tags: auction, court, creditors, development, foreclosure, lender, loan, property, sale

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