First the banks took away C.C. Myers' pride and joy. Then they moved to take away nearly everything else.

The result was bankruptcy.

Stripped of his beloved Winchester Country Club housing development and facing the potential seizure of numerous personal assets, Myers filed for Chapter 7 personal bankruptcy protection last month. It marks a devastating chapter in a life spent conquering huge obstacles.

An almost mythical Sacramento highway and bridge contractor, Myers, 70, was forced into bankruptcy by the heavy debt load he accumulated developing Winchester, an opulent golf development in the foothills northeast of Auburn.

A little-known Nevada lender, Security Savings Bank, had obtained a court order that could cost Myers many of his personal assets. A bigger lender, Wachovia Bank, had foreclosed on Winchester and was also taking steps against Myers' own assets.

Those include portions of his bank accounts, several personal residences, his Oklahoma oil wells, rural acreages in Shasta County and Utah and his ownership stake in the company that made him famous, Rancho Cordova construction firm C.C. Myers Inc.

The bankruptcy puts a halt, for now, to any effort to seize Myers' assets, although a Chapter 7 bankruptcy generally results in the liquidation of many of a debtor's assets to pay creditors. And in some ways much of the damage has already been done: Although Winchester will go on, it will do so without the man who brought it to life.

"I think this was his baby," said Donna Lucas, a retired Winchester homeowner whose living room overlooks the Sierra. "I just can't imagine the pain of putting your heart and soul into something at his age and losing it all. It's just tragic; it really is. This place is about as close to heaven you can get without dying."

Myers has said he spent "many millions" of his own money developing Winchester, including $40,000 digging an automobile tunnel at the 8,800-square-foot home he's been building for himself and his wife, Janelle. He declined to be interviewed for this story but said through a publicist, "It was always a dream to live at Winchester, and it's a dream I'm hoping I can someday make happen," he said.

Myers is hardly the first construction tycoon in Sacramento to fall on hard times lately, following the demise of Dunmore Homes and the personal bankruptcy of home builder John Reynen.

Dean Wehrli, a vice president with the Elk Grove office of Sullivan Group Real Estate Advisors, said it's not unusual for a massive real estate project like Winchester to sink its original developer before eventually prospering under new ownership. Wachovia has hired real estate broker CB Richard Ellis to market Winchester's golf course, clubhouse and unsold lots as a single package.

In 1989 Myers purchased the Winchester site, a former hunting preserve west of Interstate 80. He overcame opposition from the Placer County Planning Commission and a Sierra Club lawsuit, finally winning approval after a decade – an eternity for a man who rebuilt the earthquake-damaged Santa Monica Freeway in just a few weeks.

Lot sales were strong in 2000 and 2001 but fell off sharply after the Sept. 11 attacks, according to a statement released by Myers' son Clinton Myers, who runs the company's home-building division.

Business began to recover in 2004 and 2005, although not to the level reached in 2000-01, according to an offering sheet produced by CB Richard Ellis. Then it tailed off again starting in 2006.

One problem may have been location. Greg Paquin, a Folsom-based home-building consultant, said Winchester may be a little too far from Sacramento but not high enough to appeal to those interested in an alpine mountain setting.

Clinton Myers said Winchester's location has hardly been a handicap. To the contrary, he said the project's easy access to I-80 has been a plus.

The elder Myers, raised on a farm east of San Bernardino, left home when he was 16 and wound up working construction in Long Beach. In 1994, he became a hero when C.C. Myers Inc. finished repairing the Santa Monica Freeway 74 days early. He earned a $15 million bonus from the state Transportation Department and a thank you from Vice President Al Gore.

Call The Bee's Dale Kasler, (916) 321-1066.