The owner of land in Frisco where the Gate master-planned community is being built is trying to sell the land before it heads to sale in his bankruptcy case.
Tim Barton, the owner and president of Dallas-based JMJ Development, has offered 4205 Dallas Parkway to Petra Development for $9 million, the Dallas Business Journal reported. The move is a likely attempt to prevent the court-appointed receiver from selling properties Barton plans to keep and develop in the future.
Barton is currently facing federal charges, accused of scamming more than 100 Chinese investors out of $26 million with promises to develop properties across North Texas. He’s accused of diverting the money for personal use. Barton, along with homebuilder Stephen Wall and Chinese businessman Michael Fu were separately accused by the SEC of misleading investors into buying securities issued by companies the three controlled, and then allegedly misappropriating investor funds.
He allegedly used the investors’ money for the purchase of a private aircraft, gifts for colleagues, Ponzi payments to other investors, and the acquisition of properties unrelated to the purported developments. Barton faces seven counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and one count of securities fraud. He could face up to six decades in prison if convicted.
Barton said he had a preliminary buyer lined up for the Gate property before local attorney Cort Thomas was granted receivership, and that the deal has since been finalized and accepted. Petra Development will pay $9 million for the land, if and when a judge agrees to the sale.
Brown Fox’s Cort Thomas (Brown Fox)
The sale would net about $3 million after paying secured lenders with liens on the property, according to a motion Barton filed to the court.
Barton has requested that, if the sale is approved, that the judge prohibit the court-appointed receiver from selling any more of what Barton claims is “more than $20 million in realty interests.”
The Gate Frisco is a planned 40-acre development that is planned to include 1 million square feet of office space, hotels, retail space and residential properties.
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— Victoria Pruitt