By Brian Ball
The unfinished $34 million first phase of the Hickory Chase retirement community in Hilliard sits empty on a snow-covered site behind a security fence 3½ years after its lenders forced the property into foreclosure.
In a matter of months, the facility may have a new owner to complete the project.
Franklin County Judge Michael Holbrook has ordered receiver Rich Kruse of Gryphon Asset Management to serve as special commissioner in charge of auctioning the property. The prospect of a sale follows $3 million that a KeyBank-led consortium of six banks has paid since 2009 to preserve the project as lenders, contractors and creditors wrestled over who had dibs on various pieces of it and made separate efforts to dispose of the property.
