Popular Ellsworth nursery files for bankruptcy
A Thursday foreclosure auction of the NewLand Nursery & Landscaping property in Ellsworth was canceled after owner Steve Elliot filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy, the Ellsworth American reported.
Auctioneer Stef Keenan told the paper that interested parties had traveled from as far as Aroostook County and southern Maine to bid. The nursery will instead reorganize its debts and work out a plan to repay creditors.
Established in 1985, NewLand offered a retail nursery, landscape design and construction, landscape maintenance, and a full-service florist.
In December, after the foreclosure auction was scheduled, Elliot told the paper that business was good and he had no intention of closing or moving. He questioned the legality of the foreclosure proceedings.
“We’ve had an adversarial relationship with Camden National ever since they bought out Union Trust,” he told the paper in December. The acquisition was in 2008.
According to U.S. Courts, a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, also known as a wage earner's plan, “enables individuals with regular income to develop a plan to repay all or part of their debts. Under this chapter, debtors propose a repayment plan to make installments to creditors over three to five years.”
The landscaping industry overall has been strong in recent years, bolstered by renewed construction activity, according to IBISWorld’s Landscaping Services market research report.
“Over the five years to 2015, growth in the domestic housing and property markets have led to greater demand for landscaping services,” the report says. A predicted growth in per capita disposable income over the next five years is expected to continue to grow the industry.
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