A year ago, Altieri Homes used Web cams and virtual tours to tout its homes across four states on the Internet.

Today, the Web site for the Columbia-based builder is a white page with only a few words: “Sorry, Altieri Homes is having difficulties.”

Altieri is not alone among local builders that have struggled in the national economic downturn.

Dale Thompson Builders, a prominent home builder known for its age-restricted Scot’s Glen complex and proposed Riverdale community, has shuttered its Columbia office and some of its creditors recently sold off lots and model homes at auction to pay off the company’s debts.

“They’re both good, quality builders. It hurts to see it happen to people like that,” said Russell Dickens, regional partner and vice president of Elm Street Development, a McLean, Va.-based developer with projects in Howard County.

Both companies, Dickens said, locked up numerous land deals when the economy was doing well, a strategy that has its risks. When the housing bubble burst and the market for new homes dried up, they ran into troubles. Unlike larger companies, they were not able to simply write off losses.

Although neither company has declared bankruptcy, both have faced multiple lawsuits from banks and contractors, court records show.

Phone numbers for Altieri Homes and its owners have been disconnected and the company did not respond to requests for comment through e-mail. E-mail and voice mail messages left with Dale Thompson Builders were also not returned, and its Columbia office is vacant.

Plagued by lawsuits and liens

Since January 2008, Altieri has been sued more than two dozen times in Maryland and accumulated liens and judgments of more than $5 million. The largest is roughly $3.8 million owed to Wachovia Bank, court records show.

Altieri’s business charter was revoked in October after the company failed to file a property tax return for the previous year, and the attorney who acted as the company’s registered agent officially resigned in December, according to state documents.
 
Altieri Homes was started in 1991 and most recently was involved with a 69-unit Hebron Manor senior housing community in Ellicott City. Williamsburg Homes, a Columbia-based builder, bought up the project after Altieri began having financial problems, said Bruce Harvey, president of Williamsburg Homes.

Hebron Manor is now moving forward under a new name — Enclave at Ellicott Station — in part because the county wanted to differentiate it from another Hebron-named project, Harvey said.
 
The company has started construction on new homes at the site, near the intersection of Route 99 and Old Mill Road, and expects the first buildings to be complete in August, with the remaining work done in 2011.

“It was attractive in terms of price,” Harvey said. “Obviously the price we purchased the land at was much less than the previous owner paid for it.”
 
Dale Thompson’s troubles

Dale Thompson Builders, which has been in business for 22 years, has also run into its share of legal problems. The company has more than $30 million in judgments against it, according to court records, and two of its lenders foreclosed on properties owned by the company.

Susquehanna Bank foreclosed on 30 homes and lots in the Scot’s Glen development near Columbia and held an auction April 14 through auctioneer GoIndustry DoveBid. A company representative confirmed that none of the bids were accepted and was not aware of any future auction plans involving the land. A lawyer representing the bank declined to comment.

More successful was an auction on behalf of Columbia Bank, run through American Auction & Appraisal. At the April 24 auction, they sold three of five model homes in Scot’s Glen and five of seven lots available in Highland Overlook, near Columbia.

The remaining properties were all sold in the days following the auction, said Katheryn Hughes, a real estate specialist with American Auction. The lots — originally valued as high as $360,000 — sold for between $240,000 and $295,000, while the homes — priced as high as $775,000 — sold for as low as $360,000.

Remaining up in the air is the fate of the Riverdale community, a collection of age-restricted townhouses and apartments slated to be built at the intersection of Route 32 and Cedar Lane, near the Columbia village of Hickory Ridge.
 
Sandy Spring Bank is owed roughly $27 million in court judgments against Dale Thompson, including land intended for Riverdale, court records show. Owner Dale Thompson could not be reached for comment, but told The Baltimore Sun earlier this month that he remains in business and hopes to work something out with the bank in order to salvage Riverdale.

A lawyer representing the bank did not return a call for comment. The company has until June 10 to submit a final plat and site development plan for the first phase of the project and if they do not, the tentative housing allocations are revoked and the plans are void, according to Kevin Enright, a county spokesman.

County Executive Kenneth Ulman, who represented the area that includes Riverdale when he was on the County Council, said he has concerns about how close the development is to the Middle Patuxent River. Dale Thompson’s difficulties might offer an opportunity to revise the plans, perhaps by increasing setbacks from the river, he said.

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