A developer awarded a $20 million public project in Baltimore County neglected his real estate taxes on city property, a former business partner has alleged in court.
John Vontran — who was recently awarded the Yorkway redevelopment project in Dundalk — is accused of shirking partners in a town house project on Dillon Street in Baltimore City. His refusal to contribute capital could force the property into foreclosure, his former business partner said in Baltimore County Circuit Court Friday.
“We received notice recently that the real estate taxes on the property were not paid and the property had already been sold at a tax sale,” said Stacie Tobin, attorney for Vontran’s partner in the Dillon project, Carroll Bond. “Mr. Bond had to redeem the property by paying the taxes himself with no contribution from Mr. Vontran.”
Bond and Vontran — both former video gambling suppliers — are wrangling over payments for construction work on Dillon Street. Bond says that he paid his share for the construction work, but that Vontran did not.
In November, a judge ordered Vontran to pay the contractor, Hunt Valley-based F.M. Harvey Construction Co., $430,000, in a suit filed by that firm.
Bond also accuses Vontran of neglecting monthly mortgage payments. Each agreed to deposit $8,000 in his company’s bank account to cover a July payment, according to Bond’s suit, but Vontran never made his contribution and Bond’s share disappeared from the account.
Vontran was selected in a sealed-bid auction to redevelop the blighted Yorkway apartment complex by county lawmakers in September. He will pay $1.6 million for the 10-acre site — less than 10 percent of what the county paid to acquire it — an amount that fell between two independent appraisals.
At a motions hearing Friday, Vontran argued that Bond should have attempted to negotiate the dispute before he sued.
“Mr. Bond has never mediated or requested mediation as required by their agreement,” said his attorney, Patrick Madigan. “The petition for arbitration is premature.”
