Cherry Hill wants tax sale for Woodcrest CC
Cherry Hill Township says the bankrupt Woodcrest Country Club to has more than $161,000 in property taxes owed or coming due and is asking a court to allow a tax sale.
Correction: This story was corrected to clarify the sale is for a tax note, not the property.
Cherry Hill Township says the bankrupt Woodcrest Country Club has more than $161,000 in property taxes owed or coming due and is asking a court to allow a tax sale.
In papers filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Camden, the township is asking Judge Judith Wizmur to lift an automatic stay barring such a sale.
The township said the country club owes $106,000 in real estate taxes for the two most recent quarters and has an additional $53,200 due May 1. Cherry Hill said the club also owes $3,100 in sewer charges.
Bonnie Glantz Fatell, the court-appointed trustee for the traditionally Jewish country club, said Thursday she would oppose the motion at a hearing set for April 9.
Fatell has announced plans of her own to auction the club to pay off its creditors. Not date has been set for that sale.
Bridget Palmer, spokeswoman for the township, said Cherry Hill is seeking permission to sell a tax certificate at its our annual tax sale on June 25.
"At that sale, private investors will competitively bid on tax certificates for all delinquent properties in the township," she said in an email. "If the property owner fails to pay the taxes, plus interest and fees, within two years of that tax sale, the lienholder has the right to foreclose on the property."
Woodcrest filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in May as it was about to undergo a sheriff's sale sought by Sun National Bank of Vineland, N.J., which financed a disputed and ill-fated clubhouse expansion and is the country clubs sole secured creditor.
Developer Bruce Toll's investment firm and a company made up members of the family that control Sun National have expressed interest in bidding for the 155-acre property, which is zoned institutional and cannot be developed for retail or residential project.
Contact Joseph Gambardello at gambarj@phillnews.com
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