Image courtesy of The Architectural Team

A trustee is asking a federal bankruptcy judge to allow an approved development site in Boston’s Hyde Park neighborhood that’s been stalled since the COVID-19 pandemic to be abandoned.

Developer Ad Meloria had originally permitted the project, known as The Residences at Readville Station, in 2020. The 279-unit project at 1717-1725 Hyde Park Ave. unable to obtain construction financing at the time, which Ad Meloria had estimated at $70 million. The developer then re-permitted the project as a condominium development in 2022, but was again unable to obtain financing. A public auction had originally been scheduled for August 2023 but was repeatedly postponed.

The trustee had been working with Woburn-based Northern Bank, which loaned $14 million to the project across two mortgages, to arrange a sale through commercial broker Cushman & Wakefield with carve-outs for unsecured creditors in the case. However, in a court filing Friday, the trustee stated that after consulting with “several” brokers, they believe the project “would sell for less than the amount owed on the first two mortgages to Northern Bank.”

Clinton Savings Bank also loaned $3.6 million to the project via a third mortgage.

The site has also been attracting trash dumping and trespassers, one of whom recently set a fire that caused damage to a trailer on the property, the bankruptcy trustee wrote in Friday’s filing.

“There is no money in the estate to clean up the trash or to make other repairs to the structure,” and the sale process is “not feasible” to complete, the trustee’s filing said.

Ownership 1717 Hyde Park Ave. LLC filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in December, listing assets of $24.6 million with the property as the sole asset, and liabilities of $16.9 million.

Material from previous Banker & Tradesman reports was used in this report.