Empire Land - Land development

The LA Times has reproted that Ontario, California-based Empire Land has fild for bankruptcy protection:

Empire Land, an Ontario-based land development company, has filed for bankruptcy protection, joining at least a dozen home builders that sought protection from creditors in the last 10 months as home sales and prices slumped.

"A severe tightening or loss of financing for the entitling and development of land, and the resulting pressures that were placed on the debtors' cash flows," helped prompt the bankruptcy filing, Chief Financial Officer Neil Miller said in a statement filed Friday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Riverside.

The article goes on to note that Empire had assets/liabilities of $100 to $500 million (Quite a range, if anyone can narrow this down, please let us know).

Big Builder Online described Empire's 2006 operations as follows:

In 2006, the company had 7,500 units planned in its two largest communities, controlled 13,500 lots, and had another 5,000 lots in various stages of acquisition.

In January 2006, Previti transferred his home building assets to son Jim Previti Jr.'s Frontier Homes. Empire has several communities in California and Arizona. Plans for Seguoro Springs in Tucson, Ariz., included 2,500 homes, with roughly 25% designated as active adult.

If you have any further detail as to Empire's bankruptcy proceedings or could elaborate on any broader implications of their closure, please let us know.