The ax finally fell on Joe Mullins’ troubled Martinez apartment complex.
A year after creditors declared him in default on a $6 million loan taken out on Clara Point Apartments, a judge has ordered the complex turned over to a receiver, to eventually be sold.
Columbia County Chief Judge Sheryl Jolly granted lender Wilmington Trust’s emergency motion Thursday.
Under the terms of a consent order, the former state House candidate was ordered to immediately turn over the four-acre complex just off Washington Road to receiver Trigild IVL LLC.
Mullins, who could not be reached for comment, purchased the former Applecross apartments in 2015, renamed it for his daughter and promised an overhaul of the 1970s-era complex.
But the renovations never materialized, even after he took out a nearly $6 million loan on the property in 2021.
The receivership allows the lender to immediately take over management, eject tenants and fire employees, according to the consent order.
Mullins is expected to turn over all rents, insurance settlements, security deposits, records, leases, contracts and computers to the receiver.
Trivald is in an exclusive listing agreement with broker Edge Realty Capital Markets LLC to maximize the value of the sale. Online auction firm Tex-X LLC is expected to put the property up for sale Apr. 15-17.
Former tenant Garian Henry told The Augusta Press last year that conditions at the complex were deplorable.
“They were horrible. People didn’t care anything about anything,” Henry said. Mullins’ response to her complaints had been to try to evict her, she said.
Things got worse for Mullins when in December 2022, 30 or more units sustained significant damage from frozen pipes, according to court filings. Columbia County Codes Enforcement condemned part of the complex, and numerous units remained boarded up Friday.
Wilmington declared Mullins in default after he failed to make loan payments for months and for failing to properly maintain the property, and declared the sum of $6.7 million immediately due, according to court filings.
The firm also suggested Mullins was misspending the loan proceeds.
“There is a significant risk that the owner/operator Joseph ‘Joe’ Mullins is misappropriating funds from the premises for other properties that he owns, independent of the premises,” a filing said.
The property, which Mullins paid $1.9 million, then attempted to sell for $5.8 million, is now assessed at $1 million.
Mullins has split his time between homes in the area and Flagler County, Fla. for several years. In 2018 he won election to the Flagler County Commission. Pulled over in a red Ferrari there in 2022, he told a trooper, “I run the county.”
That year, he lost in the Republican primary with only 31% of votes.
Susan McCord is a staff writer with The Augusta Press. Reach her at susan@theaugustapress.com
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