"If you had a tool belt and a pickup truck, you could get a construction loan," says Robert W. Abercrombie, owner of Betty's Homes Inc., which built some of the houses in Quail Ridge but filed for bankruptcy protection in 2006 after sales stalled.
Mr. Abercrombie's company defaulted on more than $2.5 million in loans from ANB Financial, a local bank known for its enthusiastic lending. So did another Quail Ridge home builder that borrowed from ANB. By Friday, an epidemic of bad real-estate loans had overwhelmed the bank, which was seized by federal regulators in the second-biggest federally insured bank failure since 2001.
...
By the end of last year, ANB had $1.3 billion of construction and land-development loans on its books -- and $114 million in conventional home mortgages, according to financial data filed with regulators. In contrast, Mr. Byrd says Iberia has 5.5% of its loan portfolio in construction and land development, while ANB's is more than 75%.
ANB also opened loan offices in resort communities such as Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and St. George, Utah. "One might characterize [ANB] as a bank on steroids," says John R. Davis, Iberia's senior executive vice president.
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When he wasn't overseeing the lending surge as ANB's chief executive, Mr. Dykema dabbled in real-estate development. Documents indicate he was involved in various residential and commercial projects, though his exact role isn't clear. Mr. Dykema also co-owns Bentonville Butcher & Deli on South Walton Boulevard, according to his business partner. Mr. Dykema says he was told by his lawyer and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. not to comment.
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