Columbia Property Capital (CPC), the developer of four condominium buildings in the Glover Park area, declared bankruptcy in January 2020 one month after its Cathedral Towers II project was foreclosed by their gardener at the end of 2019. CPC filed multiple bankruptcies in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for Washington DC through various subsidiaries and property LLC’s (including J6 Development) and reported approximately $5.5 million in assets with roughly $22 million in debts.
CPC developed Cathedral Crest I and II Condominiums at 3915 and 3919 Fulton St NW in 2016 and successfully sold out the 12 luxury units. In 2016 they began the development of Cathedral Towers I at 4012 Edmunds St NW in Glover Park and successfully sold out the 9 condominium units in early 2017. During that development they purchased the neighboring property at 4008 Edmunds with the intention of creating a similar condominium called Cathedral Towers II. Tragically, Guy Prudhomme, the CEO of Columbia Property Capital, was murdered by his neighbor in Virginia over a property line dispute in May 2017. That man was convicted of murder and is serving a life sentence.
Development of Cathedral Towers II stalled for many months as Guy’s wife, Patricia Prudhomme, took the reins of the company during such a heartbreaking tragedy. By mid-2019 debts on various projects were mounting, and the Glover Park condo was nearing completion despite the delays. CPC attempted limited pre-completion marketing of the property, but then came up short on their debts to Monument Bank secured by the property. Subsequent loans from Bogdan Capital and Revere Bank loomed as well. In November 2019, amidst a few liens placed by contractors including their landscaper, Paul Denchfield of Denchfield Landscaping & Nursery acquired the $1.1 million loan from Monument bank under the auspices of Middle Gulf Capital LLC, and quickly hired an attorney to foreclose on the note secured by the nine condo units and four parking spaces assessed by DC at $5.2 million total. The units went to public auction in a trustee sale, per the foreclosure rules in DC, and Denchfield’s Middle Gulf Capital took back the properties for $2.4 million and received titles to each property on December 31st, 2019. Denchfield borrowed the $2.4 million from his own Badger Funds II LLC to fund the purchase. Paul’s son, Taylor Denchfield, who has been involved in real estate investing with his father, has been advertising the condo units for rent, with three remaining available in the range of $3000-$4000 for two-bedrooms units.
