Ritter Ranch

Ritter Ranch, the giant planned community being developed on the outskirts of this desert city, is in foreclosure proceedings and could collapse in a tangle of bankruptcies and lawsuits if negotiations to save it fall through. Foreclosure proceedings were triggered earlier this month, when the Bankers Trust Co. of New York filed a notice of default against the Ritter Ranch Co., citing $26 million in outstanding payments.

For a decade, "the bridge to nowhere" stood as a symbol of the bust-boom nature of development in the Antelope Valley. The rock bridge over the Amargosa Creek in Palmdale was built during the last building boom, meant to be the gateway to the Ritter Ranch development. But the project never materialized, stymied by delays, bankruptcies and a slowing housing market. But now, with Southern California in the midst of another housing boom, construction is beginning on the 7,200-home community.

A Texas real estate company's plan to buy sprawling Ritter Ranch on the outskirts of Palmdale has hit a legal snag that could further delay development of the site where a 20,000-resident community was first proposed a decade ago. The real estate developer, RR Property Holdings, is seeking to buy the 7,400-acre parcel owned by Ritter Ranch Development, whose 1998 bankruptcy filing halted plans to build 7,000 homes in the Leona Valley area.

A land auction expected next month in U.S. Bankruptcy Court may resurrect long-dormant plans to develop Ritter Ranch on the outskirts of Palmdale, where a 20,000-resident mini-city was once planned. A Texas real estate company, RR Property Holdings LLC, is seeking to buy the remaining 7,400 acres owned by Ritter Ranch Development LLC, whose 1998 bankruptcy filing halted plans to build 7,000 homes in the Leona Valley area.

A long-delayed major property development in Palmdale may resume this summer and restore a defaulted property-improvement bond issue under a bankruptcy court plan. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Geraldine Mund in Woodland Hills recently approved a plan that lets new developers tackle a master-planned community on 7,000 acres of land known as Ritter Ranch. As part of the plan, they must pay past-due interest and principal on land-backed bonds. The city of Palmdale does not back the debt.

Property foreclosures are nothing new in Palmdale, where the real estate recession has been lengthy and severe, but Wednesday's dwarfed all others. The foreclosure was against Ritter Ranch Co., the group behind what was potentially one of the largest housing developments in the state. Ritter Ranch was to be a planned community for 20,000 people located on the fringe of Palmdale. But before a single house was built, the project became mired in debt.

Property foreclosures are nothing new in Palmdale, where the real estate recession has been lengthy and severe, but Wednesday's dwarfed all others to date. The foreclosure was against Ritter Ranch Co., the group behind what had been billed as one of the largest new housing developments in the state. A brief court proceeding turned ownership of the 18-square-mile Ritter Ranch property over to its lender, Bankers Trust Co. of New York.

Ritter Ranch Co., the partnership that once aimed to build a massive residential development in Palmdale, has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection. The bankruptcy filing came three months after the company's lender, New York-based Bankers Trust Co., foreclosed on the 11,000-acre property upon which the giant Ritter Ranch development was to be built. In documents filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Woodland Hills, Ritter Ranch listed liabilities of $8,513,106 against assets of $19,659.