Owners of Fall River properties file for bankruptcy, cite crime

FALL RIVER – Colville Properties, owner of 28 rental properties here, has filed for Chapter 11 federal bankruptcy protection, citing problems with the city’s crime rate, as well as fire and uncooperative bankers, according to news reports.
The Boston Business Journal reported that the father-and-son owners of the properties, which include 90 units, filed for Chapter 11 protection for D. Brian Colville, David B. Colville, D. Brian Colville LLC, Colville Properties LLC and Wade Realty LLC.
The Colvilles administer the properties through C&C Property Management LLC, according to court papers.
David Colville has been targeted over the past two years by city officials for numerous code violations and unsanitary living conditions, resulting in some of his apartments being closed.
Colville, according to The Herald News in Fall River, also claimed his financial problems were made worse by a bank’s refusal to discharge a mortgage, even after he used insurance proceeds to pay off a note after two fires damaged rental properties on Quequechan and Pleasant streets.
Colville’s attorney, David C. Levin of Quincy, wrote: “In recent years, Fall River has seen declining property values. Many of Debtors’ properties were in what have become unsafe neighborhoods which have experienced a significant rise in criminal activity, including drug deals, murders and other violent crimes. The criminal activity had reached a level seriously impacting the entire area, including many of Debtors’ properties and tenants. … As the problems worsened, the Debtors began to lose control of these properties and the tenants began to stop paying their rent.”
Mayor Will Flanagan told The Herald News on Tuesday that he was “appalled” at Colville’s characterization of Fall River, which he called a “city on the move.”
Early last year, the city began an initiative to recoup more than $500,000 in back taxes and utility bills that Colville’s company owed.
From June 2013 to May 2014, under Flanagan’s orders, city inspectors closed some of Colville’s 32 properties – displacing nearly 100 tenants – after they found unlivable and unsafe conditions. Some properties were also condemned, and many were foreclosed upon by the banks, according to The Herald News archives.
In his court filing, Colville claimed that he asked the city for assistance to deal with criminal activity at his properties. The city failed and neglected to offer any assistance, he said.
Flanagan said Colville’s assertions were “simply untrue.”
“In fact, our police department sat down with Mr. Colville and attempted to work with him in instituting policy regulations that would improve public safety within his properties, and our attempts went unanswered,” Flanagan said.

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