Troubled mobile home park sold

New owners want to improve Clark County development with history of problems.


Staying with the story

The Springfield News-Sun was the first to report about financial and environmental problems at Brookside Mobile Home Park.

After years of EPA actions and fines, a defaulted loan and unpaid real estate taxes, and a court-appointed receivership, Brookside Mobile Home Park has a new owner that says it plans to make it a good place to live for its approximately 140 tenants.

On Friday, SVMHP LLC (South Vienna Mobile Home Park), backed by a California-based investment company, closed on the 111-acre property at 1962 Mahar Road in Pleasant Twp. It paid $2.1 million, according to Clark County Auditor’s Office records.

The property landed in receivership after its previous owners, GS Holdings Brookside LTD, failed to pay on a $2.3 million loan and nearly $200,000 in back property taxes.

April Rose, a resident of the park for more than a decade, was granted the authority to take possession of the property, leases, furniture, fixtures and equipment through the receivership.

Her authority to sell the property and to use the property was to “preserve and maximize the value of the property,” according to court records.

“The previous owner of the property, they really let the property go downhill. They were taking money out and not putting money back in. Investment property doesn’t work that way,” Rose said. “So instead of letting the trailer park close, the courts appointed a receiver for the property.”

She said the park houses more than 350 people.

GS Holdings for years faced financial difficulties, as well as action and fines from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.

EPA officials asked the attorney general early last year to seek civil action against the owner of the park due to “potential health risks” related to the park’s drinking water and, in 2007, a judge fined then owner JGR properties $75,000 for violating national and state pollution laws.

The court ordered the company to make improvements to the treatment plant by January 2009. In December that same year, GS Holdings was ordered to pay $10,000 for violating a dozen counts of the order.

Ashley Gleason, asset manager for the new company, said SVMHP is working with the EPA to resolve any remaining past issues but wasn’t sure how much it might cost to resolve violations. “We’re working to make everything healthy for residents,” she said.

Meanwhile, more than $264,000 in unpaid real estate taxes were collected by the county from the sale price.

The company hired Transtar Property Management to be a third-party manager of the property and kept Rose and a second person as its local management.

“We kept on the managers that were already there because we thought they were doing a great job,” Gleason said.

“My ultimate goal was to find a great buyer to come in and be able to maintain and take care of the property,” Rose said.

About the Author