A $9.95 million loan to the developer of Maple Street Commons went into foreclosure on Tuesday, marking the most recent of a string of setbacks for the development.

University Village Partners LLC, the company that owns 86.5 acres of what is Maple Street Commons, entered foreclosure proceedings after having failed to repay the nearly $10 million it owes to First Citizens Bank and Trust Company of South Carolina. The loan was established in April of 2007 and modified in April of 2008.

Dave Schmidt, who with partner David Joiner heads the Marathon Land Co., which oversees the Maple Street Commons development, had no comment on the foreclosure, saying he will comment on the future of the development at a later date.

The land that is being foreclosed upon does not include any property in the development that has already been built out, such as the Food Lion store or the CVS Pharmacy. It only includes the vacant parcels of land. Specifically, the foreclosure covers most of the property running east from the large Maple Street Commons sign at the intersection of Maple Street and the 166 Carrollton Bypass, ending just before the Texaco gas station.

The proceedings also include property adjacent to the Food Lion supermarket on the opposite side of Maple Street from the shopping center itself, as well as land behind Food Lion that was originally targeted for student housing. The 20-acre residential portion of the commons — referred to as Parcel M — has been at a standstill since Marathon Land Co. sold it to University Village Partners in 2007. Since then, the tract was carved into 83 lots aimed primarily at first-time home buyers. The burst of the housing market bubble almost ensured residential portions of the property would not be developed until after the economy bounced back from recession, if at all.

Phone calls to First Citizens Bank and to Atlanta attorney Mathew Schuh, who is identified as the contact in the legal notice of foreclosure, were not returned.

In early summer 2008, the Carrollton Planning and Zoning Commission overwhelmingly decided against recommending a controversial proposal to turn 80 cottage-style units contained in Parcel M into 162 apartments. While the parcel was originally zoned to house the 162 apartments, in 2005 the council specifically forced the developers to agree to build less than the maximum capacity on this particular piece of land, about 18 acres in the northwest section of the project. The end result were the 80 two-story, cottage-style units.

Then, a month after the Planning and Zoning Commission recommended against the proposal, the matter was withdrawn from the agenda of the council before it could be voted on, with Mayor Wayne Garner citing public outcry against the rezoning as the chief reason for its withdrawal.

Since that time, the housing market has only gotten worse, said City Manager Casey Coleman, and it has affected developments both big and small throughout the city.

“Along came the building decline in the housing industry and everything just fell apart,” Coleman said. “For lack of a better term, it was the perfect storm if you will. Everything came together against the entire market, and these guys were one of the guys that got caught up in the middle of it.”

The development currently contains a shopping center that is anchored by Food Lion, which contains several smaller stores, and is flanked by a CVS Pharmacy.