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Subject: Home Builder Artery Stops Work on Several Projects; Firm Attempting to
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 92 04:39:11 EST
Message-ID: <45.1992Nov13.043912@AmeriCast.com>

Home Builder Artery Stops Work on Several Projects; Firm Attempt-
ing to Renegotiate Financing<By Jacqueline L. Salmon=Washington
Post Staff Writer= The Artery Organization, a giant local apart-
ment and home builder, has been forced to halt construction of
several single-family and town house projects in the Washington
area because of financial difficulties.

 Some home buyers who signed contracts to purchase homes from Ar-
tery said work on their houses stopped in October and that they
have been unable to settle on the homes because of the work stop-
page.

 Dan Mackesey, a spokesman for the Bethesda-based company, con-
firmed that construction had been "delayed, slowed" and said Ar-
tery is attempting to renegotiate its financing with its lenders.
Sources said most of the company's loans are held by Washington's
Riggs National Corp., which has been trying to significantly
reduce its real estate loan portfolio because of pressure from
regulators to improve its balance sheet.

 Mackesey said, however, that the problems were limited to
Artery's home building division and did not affect its much more
extensive apartment holdings, which include 12,000 units in the
Washington area. He said he expects the refinancing negotiations
to be resolved "shortly."

 A spokesman for Riggs said the bank would not comment on matters
involving customers.  Artery Homes, one of the largest home
builders in the Washington area, sold almost 250 homes in the
first nine months of this year.

 It has projects in Gaithersburg, Germantown and Calverton, Md.,
as well in Manassas, Fair Oaks, Woodbridge and Centreville in
Virginia. Mackesey  said he didn't know how many homes Artery has
under construction.

 One home buyer who asked not to be identified said he signed a
contract on an Artery town home in the Centreville community of
Walney Mills in August and was supposed to settle on the home
Nov. 26.

 However, he said, construction on the town house stopped about
six weeks ago. "Nothing at all was moving," he said.

 The buyer contacted Artery and said he was told by a company ex-
ecutive that Artery had to restructure some of its loans so it
could pay its subcontractors.

 Since then, the home buyer said, he has been told by sales
agents at the site that Riggs planned to take over the project
and complete the houses.

 However, Mackesey said "the houses will be built by Artery."

 Another home buyer, who signed a contract and deposited $2,500
for the purchase of a $158,000 town house in Carriage Park, a
community next to Fairfax County's new government center, said
she and her husband had moved out of their apartment last month
in expectation of moving into their new house, but instead were
forced to rent another apartment because of Artery's problems
completing their home.

 She said she fears they will be forced to move again if the
house is not completed by the end of December.<02:33 11-13C9999-
----

Copyright 1992, The Washington Post.  This story is from the
Washington Post's Capitol Edition On-Line and is not to be ar-
chived or redistributed.

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