One of Atlanta's best-known home builders, John Wieland, is fending off foreclosures on four model homes in Forsyth and Hall counties.
Wieland said the problems arose when a long-time lender was sold in the banking collapse. Compass Bank, the new owners of the failed Guaranty Bank, is liquidating assets. That triggered the foreclosures. Wieland's company and Compass Bank are negotiating how to deal with a line of credit originally worth $23 million to finance model homes. Wieland said he owes less than $10 million.
Compass Bank filed notices of foreclosure on three homes in Hall County's Reunion subdivision, near Braselton, and one in the Weston subdivision in Forsyth County as part of the foreclosure proceedings in early February.
The legal notices say the properties, owned by John Wieland Homes and Neighborhoods and John Wieland Homes and Neighborhoods of the Carolinas, are to be sold on the courthouse steps in March.
Wieland said the line of credit covers other models in other places that are also being foreclosed. It does not cover any houses under construction, he said, adding the model homes will not be sold and that he remains committed to the Weston and Reunion subdivisions.
"It is an isolated situation and it is going to be resolved," Wieland said. "We are going to work it out and have a good relationship with Compass Bank."
