Home > News & Media > Callery-Judge Hopes To Settle Foreclosure Suit

Callery-Judge Hopes To Settle Foreclosure Suit

Town-Crier – April 1, 2011

Callery-Judge Grove faces a $37 million foreclosure lawsuit, but General Manager Nat Roberts said resolving it will be a matter of refinancing, as thousands of others have in the face of the currently distressed real estate market.

The lawsuit, filed in Palm Beach County Circuit Court last Friday, alleges that Callery-Judge Limited Partnership, CJC Management Ltd. and Managed Citrus owe Prudential Industrial Properties LLC $37 million in mortgages, plus $8.7 million in interest.

“This is a long-term insured mortgage,” Roberts said. “It was made over 10 years ago. It was made before citrus canker and greening were so prevalent. [The mortgage] matured, and the cancer cluster issues and the real estate market have made it a much more complicated issue to refinance.”

Citrus canker was making its way slowly through South Florida and was being detected in areas near Callery-Judge’s 3,900 acres a decade ago. It was hurried along by the winds of hurricanes Frances and Jeanne in 2004 and again by Hurricane Wilma in 2005.

Citrus greening is a bacterial disease believed to have originated in China. It is carried primarily by two species of plant lice. The bacteria itself is not harmful to humans, but the disease is extremely harmful to citrus trees.

As a result, Callery-Judge, which once produced millions of boxes of citrus each year, had to shut down most of its citrus operation. It now grows palm trees and leases some of its property to tenant farmers. It is also developing a peach variety that does well in a warmer climate.

Callery-Judge, founded in 1964, has met dead ends on several redevelopment attempts. In 1998, the county denied a request for a 130-acre office park. In 2003, a packing house built in 1998 was closed and sold.

Then, in 2005, Callery-Judge began a plan for a 10,000-home planned community with 3.8 million square feet of commercial space. It created a residents’ committee to brainstorm ideas for the development and held a workshop to show residents what had been planned.

Although the Florida Department of Community Affairs and the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council approved the development, the Palm Beach County Commission rejected it in 2007 after hearing objections to the plan from several hundred nearby residents.

Since then, Roberts has said he will plan a smaller-scale, predominantly residential development. However, bad publicity from the alleged Acreage cancer cluster, coupled with a generally bad real estate market, has put that plan on hold.

All the adversity aside, Roberts said he is confident that Callery-Judge can work something out with its mortgage holder.

“We’re working closely with our lender and expect a satisfactory solution for all parties,” Roberts said.

Click here to view this article online