VALDOSTA — Months of hard work, millions of dollars in materials, thousands of man hours, and nearly two years of waiting for an answer on why they were never paid by Carabetta Construction on the Magnolia Grove Moody Family Housing project ended with a court order and a foreclosure sale announcement.

At best, the largest lienholders among the subcontractors will receive approximately 50 percent of the money owed them. Those with unsecured claims will receive approximately 29 percent, according to letters mailed to subcontractors this week.

The letters were sent by Willis Miller of Dover Miller Stone & Karras, P.C., and copied to John K. Dukes, the court appointed receiver on the project. Calls to Miller and Dukes’ offices beginning midweek were unsuccessful, and the Times was told that both are out of the office until Monday.

According to a notice from Congressman Jack Kingston’s military legislative assistant, Eric Miller, the Air Force held a briefing in Washington, D.C., earlier this week to announce that $2.55 million has been placed in escrow for payment of the liens — $2.4 million for perfected liens (those that had filed legal actions) and $150,000 for unperfected liens.

“The payout rate on the perfected liens will be about 50 cents on the dollar, and for the unperfected liens at about 29 cents on the dollar,” his statement said.

Also according to Miller, Hunt Pinnacle is the company that will be purchasing the four military privatized housing properties from the Air Force following the foreclosure sale set for Nov. 4.

“Hunt Pinnacle estimates they will take 17 months from closing to complete 50 homes and renovate 206 homes for a total of 256 homes at Moody. There are still a few issues the Air Force is working out with the parties, but the framework for the sale is completed,” stated Miller.

One of the conditions placed on the foreclosure sale by Judge H. Arthur “Mac” McLane in a court order Sept. 26, 2008 is that the escrow funds be used to satisfy the liens before the sale can go forward. Attorney Jackson Langdale with Dover Miller Stone & Karras stated that had the judge not issued the initial stay order a year ago and assisted in the process, “these subcontractors would not have received anything.”

Attempts to get one of the subcontractors to discuss the letters each received this week from the law firm were unsuccessful, but some indicated that accepting the offer was not ideal but perhaps better than nothing. Each has until Oct. 24 to agree to the settlement and drop all legal claims against the development to allow the foreclosure sale to proceed.

The work on the housing project ended shortly after a grand opening event with numerous military dignitaries in attendance in January of 2007. Despite an estimated $30 million reportedly paid out by the Air Force for the project to American Eagle communities and Carabetta Construction, numerous subcontractors state they received little, if any, compensation for work done on nearly 200 hours. The entire project has been padlocked for more than a year as the settlement issues and legal wranglings have played out.

According to a project summary issued by the Air Force, Hunt Pinnacle will acquire all units at Hanscom AFB in Massachusetts, Little Rock AFB in Arkansas, Patrick AFB in Florida and the houses at Moody, a total of 2,617.

The total development cost of the project is $243 million, with the project owners committing $14 million in equity and the government participation listed at a $47.5 million direct loan.

“The balance of the initial development scope will be financed through private sector mortgages and interest income.”