More than seven years after Mauro T. Padilla was sentenced to prison for lying to a bank to secure construction financing on a South Side townhouse project, the disgraced developer was back in San Antonio federal court.
Padilla, went to trial in a civil lawsuit brought by 36 investors in his various residential development projects — including the ill-fated Tundra Town Home Village on Texas 16, near the Toyota plant — that he started but never completed. The civil suit, initially filed about nine years ago, accuses him of fraud, violations of the state’s Deceptive Trade Practices Act and breach of contract.
Padilla was sentenced to 12 years after he pleaded guilty to defrauding the bank to get construction draws on a loan and using some of the cash to pay for personal expenses.
Padilla also acting as his own legal counsel because he can’t afford an attorney. U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman denied Padilla’s various requests to have a lawyer appointed to assist in his defense. Defendants in civil litigation, unlike in criminal cases, are not entitled to court-appointed counsel, Pitman noted.
Nevertheless, Padilla said he was confident he would show that the allegations against him are untrue. The court would be shown the “light and the truth,” he said.
Dallas-based developer TVPA Partners is now trying to succeed where Padilla failed. TVPA acquired most of the lots from the FDIC and is in the process of repairing the structures in Tundra Village, now called Palo Alto Villas. There will be a total of 36 four-plexes, said Craig Glendenning, TVPA’s project manager. He hopes to have the first 15 done within a year.
The plan is to rent the units and then sell them to investors. The three-bedroom, two-bathroom units start at $170,000. The three- and four-bedroom units with 2½ baths start at $210,000. A couple of sales are pending yet.
Abandoned South Bexar County neighborhood getting second chance
