Chris Fordney: Troubles dog key project

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By Chris Fordney

In viewing the adventures of developer Denver E. Quinnelly, it has been possible to be just a rubbernecker even as a few local icons have gone down.

There was Ricketts Construction Co., the old family-owned firm in Winchester that was torn apart by the legal battle between Quinnelly, then its president, and Jeffrey Ricketts, son of the founder.

Then there's the ongoing saga of the downtown Taylor Hotel, part of which collapsed and is now being called blight by the city of Winchester. That's a far cry from the upscale condos Quinnelly planned for the historic building.

And there's the ancient oak that people in Morlyn Hills, another of Quinnelly's projects, had wanted to save but that became a victim of his troubles when he could no longer spare the lot the tree stood upon.

Even the seven unfinished projects between Winchester and Woodstock -- including the infamous Cedar Valley eyesore on U.S. 11 in Strasburg -- that were foreclosed upon by Quinnelly's lenders could be seen as the private tribulations of an over-extended businessman.

But perhaps Quinnelly's most ambitious project, the stalled Russell 150 development on U.S. 522 south, has more potential for public concern. For years, officials in the city and Frederick County have touted it as a solution for the traffic-tangled junction of U.S. 522, U.S. 17-50 and Interstate 81.

The county created a community development authority to issue bonds for roads and water and sewer improvements for the $37 million, 150-acre project. The developer promised to build a bridge over I-81 and link three roads -- Tevis Street, Warrior Drive and Airport Road -- that would run through the mixed-use development that some have seen as a future downtown for Frederick County.

But based on a letter from a Russell 150 lender obtained by The Northern Virginia Daily, that vision is further off than ever before.

According to the Aug. 14 letter from MMA Realty Capital of Baltimore, sole owner and holder of the Russell 150 bonds, the developer was in default because of the failure to pay fees going back to March 2008 that totaled more than $150,000.

Russell 150 has also faced a lawsuit from a firm doing work on the project, and Quinnelly has said he couldn't pay them because MMA cut off funding in late 2007. According to MMA's letter, that occurred shortly after it sent $470,000 to Russell 150 in the fall of 2007 that was supposed to go to Allegheny Power for underground power lines, but the money never made it to the utility.

The letter also states that Russell 150 has failed to comply with the bond agreement because it owes county real estate taxes on the property that totaled $695,000 in mid-July along with $70,000 in penalties and interest of $12,700.

The county's Web site shows Russell 150 as owing $790,000 in taxes that were due in July, but it's not on the county's list of delinquent taxpayers.

Quinnelly said in an e-mail that it's actually MMA Realty Capital that's in arrears in funding for the project to the tune of $1.5 million. He said Russell 150 has paid all required fees and that Allegheny Power will be paid when work resumes.

Whatever's going on, don't expect to ride across that flyover bridge into Winchester any time soon.

Contact Chris Fordney at cfordney@nvdaily.com