According to Christian County records, Arvest Bank took possession Dec. 23 of more than 1,300 acres of foreclosed property east of Wilson’s Creek Battlefield commonly referred to as the Terrell Creek Ranch.
The transaction – made at the south-front door of the courthouse for $7.52 million – closed quietly just days before Christmas, and officials involved in the deal have been even quieter about it since.
Neil Guion, an attorney with Lathrop & Gage LLC and vice president of L&GST Corp., the trustee in charge of the sale of the property, refused to comment on the transaction. Arvest Senior Vice President Marcia Hickenbottom, who is listed as the grantee from Arvest’s 701 S. Main St. branch in Joplin, did not return calls, and bank spokesmen in Joplin and Springfield said Arvest officials would not comment on the purchase at this time.
Calls and faxes to Steve Redford, president of Hollister-based Missouri Partners Inc., the developer and former owner of the property, were not answered by press time. Attempts to reach the listed owners of Terrell Creek Ranch, Branson-based Tri-Lakes Capital LLC, also were unsuccessful.
Bob Atchley, Christian County Planning and Zoning administrator, said he knew few details about the transaction that includes four tracts of land and two approved subdivisions, but he thought the land had been conveyed at some point from MPI to Tri-Lakes Capital LLC.
“Steve Redford had formally signed, I believe, as the president of MPI, and Steve Redford also signed as the president of Tri-Lakes Capital,” Atchley said of documents presented to the planning and zoning board.
Christian County assessor records list Tri-Lakes Capital LLC as property owner in 2010. Atchley said approval of the development required a certificate of ownership.
“Before the county would sign off on the final plat of Terrell Creek Ranch, we did require a certificate of ownership, and it indicated that Tri-Lakes Capital LLC … was held by Estacado Holdings LLC as its managing member and Steve Redford signed as that managing member,” Atchley said.
Evidence of a direct transfer from MPI to Tri-Lakes Capital was not found on the Christian County recorder’s Web site as of press time.
Wolfe Surveying Inc., a development contractor for MPI, was, however, listed as a grantee in a Nov. 2, 2009, transfer of a new plat in the Terrell Creek Ranch Phase II to Tri-Lakes Capital LLC at no cost.
Eddie Wolfe, president of Branson-based Wolfe Surveying Inc., said his company has never owned any part of Terrell Creek Ranch. Wolfe said Tri-Lakes Capital was a holding company for Steve Redford, and that Redford had always owned the property.
“I’ve done land surveying for (MPI), and I’ve prepared documents and plats for them, things like that,” Wolfe said. “I have never owned or possessed any part of Terrell Creek at any time.”
Both Estacado and Tri-Lakes were organized by Karl Finkenbinder, an attorney with Branson firm Russell Schenewerk & Associates. Russell Schenewerk was listed as the companies’ registered agents. Schenewerk said he was the registered agent for more than 50 limited liability companies and that he held no stake in Tri-Lakes Capital LLC. Redford was not listed on any documents in connection to Tri-Lakes Capital LLC on the secretary of state’s Web site.
According to Christian county records, Arvest Bank was the original grantor of the $10 million loan to MPI on the 2007 deed of trust. Attorney Dan Weiland, a trustee and partner at Weiland & Condry LLC, said it is common practice for lending institutions to purchase foreclosed property for which they held a lien.
“When any loan goes into foreclosure, I would bet that 80 (percent), maybe 90 percent, of the properties are bid on by the holder of the note,” Weiland said.
Atchley said two Terrell Creek Ranch subdivisions had been approved for development in Christian County. Terrell Creek Ranch Phase I called for 56 single-family lots on 358 acres, and Atchley said Phase II had 23 lots on roughly 125 acres. He said the remainder of the property had not been platted. Records from the Christian County recorder of deeds show a total of 14 lots sold in the two subdivisions.
Christian County Assessor David Stokely is a neighbor of Terrell Creek on its western side. He described himself as a concerned neighbor who has followed the winding road of the development since Redford first introduced the plans in 2004.
“There have been so many different plans – dozens of plans – we never knew what was going to happen,” Stokely said. “I’m still concerned. We don’t know what the final disposition will be.”
In 2004, Redford owned 2,240 acres, with about 250 acres in Greene County. Since then, portions of the land were sold – including 200 acres to Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield and another 200 acres for Cowherd Construction Co.’s Lakes at Shuyler Ridge.
The original plans submitted for Christian County approval called for 2,300 homes on three- to five-acre tracts.
In June 2007, Christian County filed a lawsuit against MPI for advertising and selling Terrell Creek property before it obtained a permit from the planning and zoning commission. Atchley said the case was ongoing, and Missouri court records show no civil judgment reached and no hearings scheduled.
In August 2010, Redford settled for $5,000 with the federal government, which owns the neighboring historic battlefield, for a 2006 incident when an employee accidentally bulldozed a strip of Wilson’s Creek land.
MPI was founded in 1993 as a commercial real estate development company and has worked mostly on projects in Taney and Stone counties including StoneBridge Village and The Community & Marina at Red Rock Bluff. [[In-content Ad]]
