TRENTON-US Bankruptcy Court Judge Michael B. Kaplan this week approved the reorganization plan for troubled homebuilder Kara Homes, allowing the East Brunswick-based company to emerge from Chapter 11. The plan had been approved a week ago by creditors. As reported by GlobeSt.com, went Chapter 11 in October related to the housing market's slowdown and a general lack of cash.
And the company will no longer be known as Kara Homes. Renamed Maplewood Homebuilders, the company will also relocate its offices to Rahway, according to Thomas March, EVP of the company. And it will operate without its founder, Zudi Karagjozi, who will have no role in its operations.
The company will be owned by Plainfield Specialty Holdings II Inc. of Greenwich, CT, and the new management will be headed by Glen Fishman, a Lakewood-based developer who is also involved in the redevelopment efforts in Asbury Park. Plainfield will provide an immediate cash infusion of $12 million, of which $2.3 million will be divided up among unsecured creditors.
Maplewood Homebuilders will also get a revolving loan of $30 million, which will be used primarily to complete construction of properties on which work was halted during the Chapter 11 proceedings.
The court also approved a separate reorganization plan that was filed on behalf of Kara's Pennington Woods, a 156-unit condo and single-family project in Mt. Arlington. That project is being spun off--it will be completed by WCP Real Estate Strategies Fund.
Since going the Chapter 11 route, Kara Homes has had multiple infusions of cash that have enabled it to complete some properties already under contract. Several properties have been auctioned off, and the new management indicates that more properties might be spun off via the auction route.
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