Bickford Ranch was fighting words for years in Placer County. Before this decade started Miami-based Lennar Communities saw almost 2,000 acres of pastureland and foothills ridges between Penryn and Lincoln - and saw a lovely golf course community. Environmentalists, people in Loomis and rural folks saw a suburban community dropped into their quiet midst and cried foul.
It was war, always war. And ironically now, after years of lawsuits, fights before the board of supervisors and finally, legal settlements and the beginning of the project, its developers have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
This morning California land development giant SunCal Cos. of Irvine announced its SunCal Bickford Ranch, LLP, had filed for Chapter 11 BK in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Santa Ana.
This is the interesting part: It's bankrupt because Wall Street investment bank Lehman Brothers imploded in September when the federal government declined to bail it out of trouble. Lehman was the money behind Bickford Ranch. Without it, SunCal had nothing.
You ask how troubles on Wall Street are coming home to roost in the heartland. This is it.
Check out the full story in Saturday's Bee.
Bee Photo by Randall Benton


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