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A major section of Portrait Homes’ unfinished condominium project, Ridge Creek, will go on the block today in a foreclosure auction at the Guilford County Courthouse.

Portrait pulled out of Greensboro in 2009 when it began defaulting on loans for its properties in the region.

Ridge Creek, on U.S. 70 near Whitsett, is a mix of finished and unfinished buildings, said David Warren, an attorney who is supervising the auction for lender RBC Bank.

The 11 a.m. auction will include unsold buildings on more than 70 acres. Warren said no foreclosure auction is a sure thing because late negotiations often complete a sale before it goes public.

“Anything can happen at the last minute,” he said.

Although the real estate sale is a big one, it’s no different than many other foreclosure sales on a smaller scale, Warren said.

“It was a loan that had been granted and there was a default on it, and, really, it’s just under the ordinary course of business,” Warren said.

But amid the half-built buildings Portrait left behind, it also left half-fulfilled promises to many of its buyers who still live in those developments.

Construction stopped on some Ridge Creek condominiums in 2008, and those unfinished units remain boarded up.

A development plan for the subdivision shows the company planned to build up to 480 units. Warren wasn’t sure Monday how many Portrait actually built.

Residents of other Portrait developments struggled last year to resolve construction problems, including fire walls between condominiums that were too thin for building codes, and cracked foundations.

Portrait built hundreds of homes in Guilford County during the past decade, including many in the booming eastern Guilford area.

Foreclosure actions were taken against land and unsold homes in such developments as The Avenues, Tuscany, McAlister Place, McAlister Woods and Robyn’s Glen.

Since it pulled out, homeowners have wondered who would complete their developments, who would administer their home warranties, even how they would repair a drained pond in the Coble Farms II development.

Those questions remain unresolved.
 

Contact Richard M. Barron at 373-7371 or richard.barron@news-record.com