Tampa Bay Times:  $3.5 million check brings to a close Brooksville’s fight with Southern Hills developer

By Logan Neill

April 22, 2014

BROOKSVILLE — The presentation of a $3.5 million check to Brooksville City Council members Monday night by the city’s attorney, Tom Hogan, signaled the end of a drawn-out legal battle with the bankrupt developer of Southern Hills Plantation Club, which abandoned the project with millions of dollars worth of unfinished infrastructure.

The settlement brings to a close an arduous legal saga involving Crescent Resources, the parent company of LandMar Group LLC, which developed the upscale community on the city’s south side. In a 2011 federal court filing, the city claimed Crescent owed it about $6 million, which had been targeted for the expansion and improvement of utilities and other services as the community grew. City Manager Jennene Norman-Vacha said she was surprised to hear late last week from Hogan, who called to tell her the check was on the way, thanks to a deal ironed out in a federal court in Austin, Texas, with the trustee group made up of Crescent’s creditors. “Usually, you expect pennies on the dollar in a bankruptcy settlement,” Norman-Vacha said. “We got nearly 60 percent of what was owed. It’s a little bit amazing.”  Read more: