Eighteen months after a Washington County mason aided in the construction of a Colonie house for the “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” television show, the contractor is seeking bankruptcy protection.
The Argyle-based Stone Artist Inc. filed Monday for Chapter 11 reorganization in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Albany. The 32-year-old company’s bankruptcy petition was incomplete, but it cited between $100,001 and $1 million in assets and debts.
Stone Artist attorney Lisa Penpraze did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
Stone Artist has grown in size and reach since president Jerome Pollock Jr. moved it from Texas back to his native upstate New York in 1987. During that time, Pollock has gone from employing three workers to more than 50. The company initially did masonry work and built stone patios around Lake George but later expanded to the Albany area.
When an ABC television network crew in March 2007 came to Colonie to film an episode of “Extreme Makeover,” Pollock sent 30 employees to the Fairway Lane construction site to work on the house’s stone and interior fireplace, according to Capital Region Building magazine.
The Stone Artist is the second Lake George residential builder to seek Chapter 11 protection in three days, following the filing by Chestertown-based Lincoln Logs on Friday. The log home kit manufacturer blamed its financial woes on the housing slump and a series of burdensome acquisitions.
Categories: Business
