Mission Viejo Developer Boatman Files for Liquidation
Mission Viejo developer Richard C. Boatman, who for years tried to get a 22-acre shopping center project built in the city of Vista, has filed for liquidation.
Boatman’s firm, Richard Boatman & Associates, listed debts of nearly $22 million in its petition under Chapter 7 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. In the petition, filed on Monday in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana, the company said its assets totaled $326,800.
The Vista project, at Highway 78 and Emerald Drive, was launched in 1982, but Boatman was unable to get financing for construction and defaulted on his lease with the city. It was to include a discount warehouse, shops, restaurants and theaters.
Another developer, Robert Rippe, stepped in in 1990, but he, too, failed to get financing. The project had liens against it for unpaid construction work.
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