They Honk When The Krohs Fly By

For 77 years, the name Kroh stood for quality and reliability in the real estate industry. Kansas City-based Kroh Brothers Development built homes, shopping centers and office buildings from California to Florida. Along the way, it attracted such blue-chip investors in its projects as Arthur Levitt, the chairman of the American Stock Exchange, and the Hall family of Hallmark greeting-card fame. But in the past few months, Kroh has virtually collapsed. Beset by lawsuits and shunned by wary lenders, the company is now struggling to reorganize under Chapter 11 provisions of the bankruptcy law. The brothers who ran the firm for...