Sterling Condo Assoc. Wins Suit, Moves To Foreclose On Unit
After receiving a court judgment demanding $119,527 from developer MHOC of Sterling, the condominium association representing unit owners at Chocksett Crossing in Sterling is poised to foreclose on a unit in the development that MHOC still officially owns.
The judgment, handed down by Worcester Superior Court in February, found that the developer failed to pay various charges, interest and late fees and must also pay the Chocksett Crossing Condominium trust more than $3,000 in lawyers’ fees and out-of-pocket expenses for the case.
To get the money, the association plans a foreclosure auction sometime in the next month or two, according to Christopher Driscoll, a lawyer with Perkins & Anctil PC of North Chelmsford, which is representing the association.
MHOC of Sterling was behind the construction of the 45-unit complex in 2005.
Jasen Gundersen, a trustee of the association, said that, since then, the North Andover company and principal Gerard E. Welch have essentially disappeared, ignoring their obligation to pay cost including DEP-mandated charges for a sewage treatment facility at the development, and leaving the unoccupied unit in poor condition.
“[Welch] never bothered to finish it, didn’t pay the oil bill on it, and we had a freeze,” he said.
Welch’s recent business history has been marked with problems. Both MHOC of Sterling and another of his companies, Massachusetts Housing Opportunities Corp., came under fire from the state Attorney General’s office in 2007 over their classification as nonprofit entities. In a letter, the office accused them of being “mere shells that insiders’ for-profit business may pass through.”
Since then, both companies appear to have become inactive. Last year, MHOC sold off one project in Central Massachusetts and stopped work on two others. Driscoll said the law firm is now preparing for the foreclosure auction with measures like public notices. He said the firm will work with Boston-based Harvard Auctioneers to handle the auction itself. Welch could not be reached for this story.
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