Since the filing this has become public knowledge. Candlewick must pursue all delinquent debt to be fair to all the property owners who pay their dues. Until the filing this had to be a confidential litigation matter. Watch here for a later correction to the following story. Ken
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The Candlewick Lake Association has filed a lawsuit against an LLC set up by the owners of Three Hammer Construction for failing to pay its association dues on vacant properties.
General Manager Tracy Carter said the company is required to pay $1,357.75 in association fees yearly per vacant property to fund staff salaries and community upkeep. The business has been delinquent on $50,000 worth of dues since July 31, 2012.
Of the company's 43 properties, 37 are vacant.
“When property owners don’t pay, we pursue collection because then it’s the rest of the property owners that have to pick up the (debt),” Carter said.
The association has now filed a motion for a default judgment, which will be presented at 9 a.m. Dec. 14 at the Boone County Courthouse, 601 N. Main St., in Belvidere.
The company didn’t return phone calls asking for comment.
At one time, Three Hammer was the largest home construction company in the Rock River Valley. According to a database of building permits maintained by the Register Star, the company built at least 345 homes in Boone, Winnebago and Ogle counties in 2005 and another 367 in 2006.
Those totals are likely well below Three Hammer's actual housing starts because it doesn't include homes the company built in Stephenson County and Rock County, Wis. Also, several cities and the Boone County Building Department don't require or release the names of the builders on projects.
But when the real estate bubble burst in 2007, the home building market evaporated. Local builders went from building 1,865 homes in Boone and Winnebago counties in 2004, according to the Homebuilders Association of the Greater Rockford Area, to just 90 in 2011.
Three Hammer has started construction on just a handful of homes this year and this summer Riverside Community Bank filed a foreclosure suit on the company’s headquarters at 1515 Elmwood Road. Three Hammer has since worked out a deal with its lenders and the foreclosure has been lifted.