From the Asbury Park Press:
Soon after Kara Homes declared bankruptcy, contractors at Woodlake Greens in Lakewood packed up and pulled out their bulldozers.
Left behind were 113 unfinished homes, roads to be graded and mountains of construction debris to be cleared.
Also left behind was the nearly complete clubhouse, where residents at the age-restricted community were promised a place to exercise, swim and hold neighborhood meetings.
“That’s why we came here,” said Joe Kaldon, 60, who moved to Woodlake Greens in May. His home sits between two unfinished houses, where the wood looks like it’s starting to rot.
While it may take years to get all the problems repaired in the neighborhood, those living in the 106 homes already completed are hoping for one quick fix. It would take $100,000 to finish work on the clubhouse, which remains closed to residents.
Township officials plan to make a special petition in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, asking that $100,000 be released from the $3.7 million bond Kara Homes was required to obtain prior to construction.
“It can help us get our lives on a better track than it is now,” said Jim Lithgow, who moved to the age-restricted community in September 2005. “Right now we have no quality of life.”
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East Brunswick-based Kara filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Oct. 5, citing a slowdown in the real-estate market as the reason.Kara’s bankruptcy has left hundreds in New Jersey uncertain about the fate their unfinished homes.
Raymond G. Coles, Lakewood’s mayor, said he hopes for a positive outcome for the residents of Woodlake Greens, and that they’ll soon have their clubhouse.
“We’d love to get it up and running for them,” Coles said.