A subprime mortgage crisis, a soft real estate market and a lender that didn't want to sink any more money into the business have forced a Martinsville manufacturer to file for bankruptcy.

American Standard Building Systems, a manufacturer of panelized kit homes founded in 1968, closed for business Jan. 25 after efforts to obtain lending failed.

The move put about 90 part-time and full-time employees out of work, according to lawyer Andrew Goldstein with the Roanoke firm of Magee, Foster, Goldstein & Sayers.

If the company's assets can be sold, he said, it would improve employees' chances of getting paid for their last work period.

"I do not anticipate that the company will operate again, but selling the property and equipment would be beneficial," Goldstein said.

Monday's bankruptcy filing leaves the 30 to 40 customers whose home orders were in progress hoping to receive a refund, but Goldstein said that would "depend on the sale of the property and equipment."

Goldstein said employees and customers have received a letter from James Lester, who bought the company out of bankruptcy in 1997.

The letters apologized for the failure to pay employees and deliver building products to some customers who had made deposits.

"I borrowed heavily to buy American Standard and used my personal funds because I was convinced that the company could return to profitability," Lester said in the letters.

"Despite the heavy debt, American Standard had 11 good years, providing jobs in Martinsville and supplying customers with quality products."

Most of American Standard's customers and employees were in Martinsville and Henry County, Goldstein said, but he has received some calls from the Roanoke area.

Many of American Standard's customers, Goldstein said, had difficulty obtaining prime lending and instead relied on subprime mortgages.

Lester said market conditions left no other choice but to file for bankruptcy.

"I had hoped conditions would change and the business would pick up and we could keep these jobs in my hometown, but the market continues to deteriorate," he said in the letters.

Lester said he had lost millions of dollars and feels "a sense of loss and failure."

Goldstein said Lester was in Florida -- his life in a state of "flux."