Regency Homes

Regency Homes, Maryland's largest private homebuilder, recently received $14 million in capital from the Bankers Trust Funding Corp., an affiliate of Bankers Trust. The new funding gives Regency an equity of $4 million and a $10 million unsecured credit line from Bankers Trust, which recently announced the acquisition of Alex. Brown & Sons Inc."This new capital will allow Regency to continue on its fast-growth course," said Robert T. Kleinpaste, the company president. "We plan to use these new funds for acquiring other home-building companies and generating internal growth."

The Maryland Insurance Administration announced yesterday that it will pay $500,000 -- its largest payout ever -- to 171 consumers who lost deposit money when Regency Homes filed for bankruptcy protection in July 1998.The money will come from proceeds of a surety bond that Regency filed with the administration just months before it filed Chapter 7. However, the amount being released represents a little less than half of the $1.02 million that the administration could verify Regency had on deposit.

The collapse of Regency Homes Corp. and its parent Regency Corp. has left a trail of hundreds of unpaid creditors ranging from roofers and electricians, bankers and investors, newspapers and even the downtown Center Club.Also affected are 230 homebuyers from Maryland and Virginia who were identified yesterday by the Maryland Insurance Administration. The homebuyers had contracts with Regency to build homes in Maryland and Virginia.Regency filed for Chapter 7 liquidation in U.S. Bankruptcy Court yesterday, one day after a similar filing by its homebuilding subsidiary, Regency Homes.

Washington Homes Inc., whose $25.5 million offer to buy the assets of bankrupt Regency Homes Corp. was rejected by lenders, came to terms yesterday with two banks to purchase part of the assets for $7.3 million.Christopher Spendley, chief financial officer for Washington Homes, said Provident Bank of Maryland and First Union National Bank of McLean, Va., had sold 100 lots in various communities in Maryland and Virginia to his Landover-based company.A bankruptcy court order this month cleared the way for Provident, First Union, Bank United of Sterling, Va., and Ohio Savings Financial Corp.

Regency Homes Corp., whose aggressive style once made it the largest private home contractor in Maryland, declared bankruptcy yesterday, affecting hundreds of customers and creditors in metropolitan Baltimore.The builder is estimated to have 150 to 200 pending contracts with homebuyers who have hundreds of thousands of dollars tied up in deposits and escrow accounts. Yesterday's Chapter Seven federal bankruptcy filing means the company is out of business.The company, whose reach once stretched from Baltimore through the Washington suburbs and into Northern Virginia and Richmond, released a statement yesterday saying, "[Regency]

Recent filings in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Maryland, Baltimore City:Aug. 5American Housing Research; United Properties Group Inc. and Regency Housing Co. 7150 Columbia Gateway Drive, Columbia, subsidiaries of Regency Homes Corp., filed under Chapter 7. Principal: Sol Rosskamm, president. Assets and liabilities not disclosed.Regency Homes L/P; Regency Financial LLC; Curtis Regency LLC; Best House on the Block Inc.; Covington Condos LLC; C R Springridge LLC; Terra Funding LLC and Regency Frederick LLC,7150 Columbia Gateway Drive, Columbia, all subsidiaries of Regency Homes Corp.

Regency Homes has opened its third section at the Villages of Winterset, the Owings Mills community that in 1995 received an award for Mixed Use Development from the Land Development Council of the Home Builders Association of Maryland.Regency is building 75 homes on fifth-acre lots in the Baltimore County development that will feature its own clubhouse and swimming pool.Regency's model at Winterset is the Windsor, a traditional two-story home with 2,318 square feet and a base price of $205,990.

Kleinpaste leaves Legg MasonThe head of Legg Mason Inc.'s real estate consulting arm has left the firm to become president of Regency Homes Corp., an Annapolis homebuilding company.Robert T. Kleinpaste had headed Legg Mason Realty Group since 1989. Before joining Legg Mason, he had founded Real Property Research Group in 1975 and sold the company to Legg Mason in 1986.Legg Mason said it has not yet named a replacement. "He's too good to replace with just anyone," company spokesman Bruce Genther said.

Springhouse StationRegency Homes has opened a model of the Huntington, one of three Colonial houses the firm is building on one-sixth acre to quarter-acre lots at Springhouse Station, in the White Marsh area of Baltimore County.Gas heat and nine-foot first-floor ceilings are standard.For a base price of $204,900, the Huntington has 2,175 square feet. The living and dining rooms are both 11 by 10 feet.A two-story foyer with an angled staircase, double garage, 12-by-10-foot kitchen, 10-by-9-foot breakfast area and 17-by-13-foot family room complete the first floor.

Regency Homes has opened a model of the Huntington at Sumner Grove in Laurel, where the firm is building 46 Colonial homes on 1/8 - to 1/3 -acre lots.Gas heat and hot water are standard in the Prince George's County community, minutes from the Anne Arundel County border.Other features Regency includes with homes at Sumner Grove are 9-foot first-floor ceilings, full unfinished basements, six-panel Colonial doors, oak railings, smoke detectors and single-lever bathroom faucets.A 10-by-11-foot living room, an 11-by-10-foot dining room, a foyer powder room, a 17-by-14-foot family room and a 12-by-10-foot kitchen with pantry and 10-by-9-foot breakfast room occupy the first floor.

A bankruptcy judge has allowed four major creditors to take back approximately 300 building lots in Maryland and Virginia from the Chapter 7 liquidation of Regency Homes Inc. and its affiliates, a move that gets homebuyers a step closer to a resolution in one of the largest homebuilder debacles ever in Maryland.Judge S. Martin Teel Jr. signed off on a motion of sale Friday from Zvi Guttman, trustee for the estate, that allows Provident Bank of Maryland, Sterling, Va.-based Bank United, First Union National Bank and Ohio Savings Bank of Cleveland to take back their lots in exchange for $21 million in secured claims against the estate.

One by one they stood in line to look Regency Homes President Frank V. Mazza in the eye and tell him how his now bankrupt company had disrupted their lives.More than 100 home buyers, suppliers, contractors, attorneys and even former employees filled a courtroom gallery in the Federal Courthouse downtown yesterday morning in the first creditors' meeting arranged by the trustee handling the Chapter 7 bankruptcy of Regency Homes Inc. and other entities working under the Regency name.The room was filled with signs of frustration, anger, skepticism, sadness and remorse as Mazza, Chief Financial Officer Robert E. Grove Jr., and attorney Alan M. Grochal answered questions from Zvi Guttman, trustee for the case, and then from those affected by the demise of Regency.

Hundreds of homebuyers, stranded by the demise of Regency Homes Inc., may have gotten a glimmer of hope when Washington Homes Inc. of Landover yesterday announced it had entered into a preliminary agreement to purchase certain assets -- including contract rights -- of the bankrupt builder.The tentative agreement for $25.5 million made between Zvi Guttman, the trustee appointed to the Regency case by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, and Washington Homes is subject to the reaching of a definitive agreement, a review of all contracts and bankruptcy court approval.

Recent filings in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Maryland, Baltimore City:Aug. 5American Housing Research; United Properties Group Inc. and Regency Housing Co. 7150 Columbia Gateway Drive, Columbia, subsidiaries of Regency Homes Corp., filed under Chapter 7. Principal: Sol Rosskamm, president. Assets and liabilities not disclosed.Regency Homes L/P; Regency Financial LLC; Curtis Regency LLC; Best House on the Block Inc.; Covington Condos LLC; C R Springridge LLC; Terra Funding LLC and Regency Frederick LLC,7150 Columbia Gateway Drive, Columbia, all subsidiaries of Regency Homes Corp.

The collapse of Regency Homes Corp. and its parent Regency Corp. has left a trail of hundreds of unpaid creditors ranging from roofers and electricians, bankers and investors, newspapers and even the downtown Center Club.Also affected are 230 homebuyers from Maryland and Virginia who were identified yesterday by the Maryland Insurance Administration. The homebuyers had contracts with Regency to build homes in Maryland and Virginia.Regency filed for Chapter 7 liquidation in U.S. Bankruptcy Court yesterday, one day after a similar filing by its homebuilding subsidiary, Regency Homes.

Regency Homes Corp., whose aggressive style once made it the largest private home contractor in Maryland, declared bankruptcy yesterday, affecting hundreds of customers and creditors in metropolitan Baltimore.The builder is estimated to have 150 to 200 pending contracts with homebuyers who have hundreds of thousands of dollars tied up in deposits and escrow accounts. Yesterday's Chapter Seven federal bankruptcy filing means the company is out of business.The company, whose reach once stretched from Baltimore through the Washington suburbs and into Northern Virginia and Richmond, released a statement yesterday saying, "[Regency]

Washington Homes Inc., whose $25.5 million offer to buy the assets of bankrupt Regency Homes Corp. was rejected by lenders, came to terms yesterday with two banks to purchase part of the assets for $7.3 million.Christopher Spendley, chief financial officer for Washington Homes, said Provident Bank of Maryland and First Union National Bank of McLean, Va., had sold 100 lots in various communities in Maryland and Virginia to his Landover-based company.A bankruptcy court order this month cleared the way for Provident, First Union, Bank United of Sterling, Va., and Ohio Savings Financial Corp.

For 11-year-old Tim Betz, a Duke Blue Devils baseball cap has brought its share of luck this season.Tim, a Finksburg resident and center striker on Lovell Regency Homes 12-and-under soccer team, isn't without his good-luck charm at any of the indoor games this season. Sofar, Tim and his charm are working, as Lovell is undefeated and going to national competition."The way I picture Timmy," said Lovell's head coach Sandro Marcozzi, "he's always got a soccer ball in his hand and the Blue Devil capon."

Regency Homes has opened a model of the Huntington at Sumner Grove in Laurel, where the firm is building 46 Colonial homes on 1/8 - to 1/3 -acre lots.Gas heat and hot water are standard in the Prince George's County community, minutes from the Anne Arundel County border.Other features Regency includes with homes at Sumner Grove are 9-foot first-floor ceilings, full unfinished basements, six-panel Colonial doors, oak railings, smoke detectors and single-lever bathroom faucets.A 10-by-11-foot living room, an 11-by-10-foot dining room, a foyer powder room, a 17-by-14-foot family room and a 12-by-10-foot kitchen with pantry and 10-by-9-foot breakfast room occupy the first floor.

Regency Homes has opened its third section at the Villages of Winterset, the Owings Mills community that in 1995 received an award for Mixed Use Development from the Land Development Council of the Home Builders Association of Maryland.Regency is building 75 homes on fifth-acre lots in the Baltimore County development that will feature its own clubhouse and swimming pool.Regency's model at Winterset is the Windsor, a traditional two-story home with 2,318 square feet and a base price of $205,990.