A hearing to appoint a receiver in a foreclosure suit against several parties connected to the Riverside Village development in North Augusta was postponed.
The July 25 hearing was on First Community Bank’s foreclosure suit against Hammond’s Ferry Commercial I, LLC, Christian Schoen, The Clubhouse at Riverside Village Owners Association, Inc., and Riverside Village Owners Association, Inc.
The bank’s foreclosure lists three of the Clubhouse properties in the development near the Savannah River, specifically the Clubhouse apartments, the Clubhouse parking deck and vacant offices.
A court official said the Monday hearing was postponed at the request of attorney W. Cliff Moore, III of Columbia, representing First Community Bank. Moore requested the hearing be delayed for 10 days to allow defendants to retain legal counsel.
The suit was originally filed July 6. It said the bank entered into a construction loan agreement with Schoen and Hammond’s Ferry Commercial I, LLC. on Jan. 16, 2018. The amount listed was $8.1 million. That agreement was revised on Aug. 6, 2021.
First Community Bank’s court document said the agreement called for the company to make monthly payments of the accrued interest and an agreed upon amount against the principal of the loan.
The bank said it received only the interest payment in March and April of this year and received no payment at all in May and June.
The bank’s complaint said it is owed $7,803,010.24, along with accrued and unpaid interest, monthly tax deposits and late charges.
The bank asked the court to award it the unpaid balance, accrued interest and late charges. The bank also requested “attorney’s fees, costs of this action, advances made by Plaintiff, and any other amounts that may be due pursuant to the terms and conditions of the Agreement, and that Plaintiff be granted immediate judgment against Borrower and Schoen in that amount.”
This marks the second time in less than two years that the bank has filed a foreclosure notice on properties in North Augusta’s “Live, Work, Play” community.
In December 2020, the suit was on seven key development sites, all undeveloped, in Riverside Village. By July 2021, the parcels were headed to the auction block. That was delayed giving Greenstone Hammond’s Ferry, LLC, and the bank time to reach an agreement. By August, the sale was again posted on the county’s Master-In-Equity page. That was also postponed on the morning of the scheduled auction.
By mid-September, Schoen announced the mortgage had been paid.
“Our ownership group paid off the mortgage and thereby extinguished the foreclosure procedure,” said Schoen. “We are working toward hopefully having several of the development parcels under construction by the first quarter of 2022.”
A new date for the hearing has not been scheduled.
Dana Lynn McIntyre is a general assignment reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach her at dana@theaugustapress.com
