An Orangeburg developer of luxury homes has filed for bankruptcy 18 months after he attempted to sell at auction two newly built luxury homes and 13 1-acre lots in the Highgate Estates subdivision in Pomona.

John Lynn, president of Pomona-based JWL Construction Co., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in White Plains last month, according to a court filing.

The filing is yet another blow to the troubled development on Cheesecote Mountain, which is at the center of a breach-of-contract lawsuit filed by the village. That case, along with two others against Lynn, is pending in state Supreme Court, according to the filing.

A message left for Lynn at his Pomona offices wasn't returned. Messages left for his New City-based attorney, Elizabeth A. Haas, also weren't returned.

The bankruptcy filing shows Lynn owes his creditors about $2.7 million, the bulk of which is owed to Trustco Bank on two loans, secured in 2003 and 2006.

Among Lynn's assets listed in the filing are 12 building lots valued at $6 million, as well as certain personal assets, including nearly $53,000 held in escrow by the village for installation of items such as trees and driveways - but not roads, said Mayor Nick Sanderson.

One of Lynn's companies, Highgate Development Corp., still owns the roads in the development and hasn't yet ceded them to the village, Sanderson said.

An offer of dedication is pending, he said, but the roads aren't yet finished, requiring further improvement, including another layer of blacktop and the resolution of some drainage problems.

The unfinished roads were the source of a tax controversy earlier this year, when nearly 60 Highgate homeowners sought to have the value of their homes reduced because of the roads' condition.

Village officials denied their requests in March.

In March 2007, Lynn told The Journal News that he had hired Express Auction, a Baltimore-based real-estate auction company, to liquidate his unsold inventory of homes and lots. At the time, Lynn said he was taking the step to get out of the home-building business, noting that he had set his sights on a new career - aviation.

Reach David Schepp at dschepp@lohud.com or 845-578-2437.