Penny-stock firm touts $1.2B Atlanta megaproject despite shaky track record

A penny-stock company with a history of busted land deals and eyebrow-raising disclosures is pitching a $1.2 billion mixed-use development in Downtown Atlanta called Bear Village.

Webstar Technology Group, which trades for about four cents a share with a market cap under $16 million, says it plans to close this year on 10 acres near Ted Turner Drive and Whitehall Street, Bisnow reported. Its vision: a luxury complex with housing, hotels, retail, cultural venues and green space based around concepts of “eco-tourism.” The firm is also dangling plans for a $650 million family resort in the Atlanta exurbs.

Despite its grand ambitions, Webstar has cycled through various identities in the past few years — from Bear Village, a resort developer, to Thunder Energies, a cannabis startup — while leaving behind failed projects and error-riddled Securities and Exchange Commission filings. Its stock has shed roughly 80 percent of its value since the current leadership team took over.

The company’s latest partner isn’t helping its credibility. Webstar has leaned on Matthew Eugene White, a developer who in the early 2000s pitched a $673 million amusement park in DeKalb County that never got built and later settled SEC fraud charges for diverting millions in investor funds to luxury shopping sprees. Former NFL running back Jamal Lewis was caught up in the dealings for said amusement park and that contributed to him personally filing for bankruptcy in 2012.

White and his affiliates agreed to pay more than $4.4 million in 2017, and he was permanently barred from working as an officer of a public company. Still, Webstar executives have kept him on as a consultant.

The firm’s governance woes extend beyond White. Last year it hired Nigerian auditor Olayinka Oyebola & Co., which was later charged by the SEC for aiding a “massive securities fraud.” Webstar quickly cut ties and hired an India-based auditor, but the episode underscored the fragility of its setup.

For Atlanta officials, skepticism is already mounting. City Councilmember Jason Dozier, whose district includes the proposed site, told the outlet he hasn’t heard from Webstar and questioned whether the company has the “skin in the game” to deliver.

Webstar insists permits are in place and it remains committed to “Forge Atlanta,” the downtown megaproject. But the firm has no track record of completing developments — and a penny-stock valuation far below the billion-dollar dreams it’s selling — which could dampen prospects for its would-be partners.

— Eric Weilbacher