Prefab Home Builder In Receivership
Prefab home builder Empyrean International, the builder of Deck Houses, Acorn Homes, and Dwell homes is the latest victim of the credit crunch. The Massachusetts-based company closed in late October and two weeks ago, a court-ordered receiver took control of the company. The owner of Empyrean, Patrick Gilrane, blames the failure of Lehman Brothers as well as the weakening economy for the closure. He had hoped to restructure and reopen the company next year but the home builder has defaulted on a $7 million loan and has not paid its utility bills or taxes for months. The Boston Globe reports that the receiver, attorney Stewart Grossman plans to put the company up for sale once he puts its affairs in order. The company's roots go back to 1947 with the founding of Acorn Structures. Deck Houses and Acorn homes have crated entire neighborhoods. Over the last few years Empyrean has worked with Dwell magazine to create boxy modernist homes. Dwell plans to continue working on prefab homes with a different builder.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Pete Jan 9th 2009 8:49AM
Great homes, nice design, but very pricey and very large
bev Jan 9th 2009 11:33AM
I think anything carrying the name Acorn especially in the housing industry is due for a rough ride after Mr Obama was connected to the Acorn mortgage scandal during his campaign.
doc Jan 9th 2009 10:32AM
my my, how fashionable it has become to blame the failure of your poorly run company on the failure of lehman brothers! if you pay any attention at all to the news, lehman brothers was apparently the only bank in america, and the only brokerage house.... i just dont buy all this, is anyone paying attention? anyone?
bev Jan 9th 2009 11:33AM
Hmm.. your right. However anything with the name Acorn attached to it especially in real estate would make me run for the hills thanks to Obama and the Acorn mortage scandal. I would take my dollars elsewhere.
Czechbikr Jan 9th 2009 11:15AM
What's with the spam?
This firm is just one more victim of the media jumping on the economy as a selling point for their man Obama after the war in Iraq became a non-issue because it looked like the Repubs did something right and that was not a good propaganda point to advance their left wing cause. So they turned their attention to the economy and scared the liver out of the consumer who was the last strong leg of the table. In a way is way a master stroke as the remedies to the economic crisis the media fueled will result in many more socialist programs being enacted. It's a good thing they don't really believe in freedom of the press because in just a few years from now they will have less than they have ever had in the past. They will know how to use thei imaginations in the same way Pravda did and will again under Putin. Further on down the road, the "Office of the President Elect" will become the "Office of the President Emeritus" ala Putin. Better get to like him a lot, he will be with us for a long time.
Carmelle Jan 9th 2009 12:10PM
Maybe they should have been building homes people could affford. A smaller, scaled down version could have been trucked down to hurriccan Katrina victoms.
Bonnie Jan 9th 2009 1:28PM
Houses need to be built smaller now to stay within the realistic prices people can afford.
Dawn Jan 9th 2009 1:37PM
These posts by Bev mentioning the Acorn voter issue as it relates to this bankruptcy are just another example of right wing idiocy. Bev is a right wing spam artist with her head up her ass.
Joanne3905 Jan 9th 2009 2:39PM
Bev...Acorn had nothing to do with the mortgage industry. Better do some research before you start your bashing.
belle Jan 9th 2009 4:07PM
Maybe now builders will stop forcing farmers off their land. We don't need more new houses, strip malls or shopping centers. I would like to see all new construction stop! If you want to build, tear down the inner city empty buildings and have at it.