SIDE STREETS: HOA wants developer to pay for broken promises

When the Saddleback Ridge Condominiums were being built along Centennial Boulevard in 2006, developer Charles Schoninger — one of five partners in the project — told prospective owners the complex would include a pool and clubhouse. Even if he has to pay for it from his own pocket.

The pool and clubhouse — to be built on the neighboring Canyon Reserve Townhome complex and shared — never materialized. The partnership fractured and Schoninger moved to North Carolina to work on a multi-million-dollar riverfront development.

He couldn’t escape, however, the 96 condo owners in Saddleback Ridge. Its Homeowners Association holds him responsible for the broken promise of a pool and clubhouse. So it sued. Trial is scheduled Jan. 11.

“We’re pursuing Charles Schoninger personally,” said Jeffrey Weeks, the HOA’s attorney. “Charles Schoninger personally guaranteed this pool and clubhouse would be built. That promise has been broken.”

It doesn’t matter that the partners scattered, blaming each other for the problems and leaving behind a company with few assets.

Weeks said Schoninger made personal guarantees to real estate agents and condo owners and they will testify under oath.

He said the HOA wants him to keep his word or pay the $500,000-plus default judgment previously awarded the HOA.

“That amenity will never be there and that makes each unit at Saddleback Ridge worth a minimum of $5,000 less,” Weeks said. “We want all units compensated for that.”

Schoninger said it’s unfair to blame him, personally, even though he was instrumental in building the condo complex.

“I secured the property,” Schoninger said. “We bought 26 acres for $1.5 million and we ended up selling a nine-acre townhouse site for $1.2 million.”

The townhouse project, Canyon Reserve, was designed as 70 units in an 18-building complex, mostly four-plexes. Two of Schoninger’s Saddleback partners also were involved in developing Canyon Reserve. The side-by-side projects were to share the pool and clubhouse, Schoninger said.

Why it never happened is a mystery, Schoninger said. Canyon Reserve ended up in foreclosure — only six of its four-plexes have been completed — and the partnerships splintered.

“It was an ugly deal,” Schoninger said. “I was doing 20 other deals at the time. When I realized nobody was accepting responsibility for Saddleback, I stepped in and played manager for a year.”

He claims one of his partners, who also was a partner in Canyon Reserve, was to blame.

“It’s a mess,” Schoninger said. “I wouldn’t want to hurt anybody ever. I sympathize with the homeowners. But it sucks it’s fallen on my shoulders. I’m broke. I don’t have any money. What do they want?”

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