SPOKANE, Wash. — Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities Co. netted $16.7 million from the sale of some of its beachfront property in Mokule'ia, and the proceeds will go to thousands of creditors who invested in the financially troubled company.

The auction netted $4 million more than anticipated, CEO Maggie Lyons said. The lands are among the most valuable properties Metropolitan had left.

Money from all but one of four separate property sales has been deposited and will be part of the initial distribution to creditors once a bankruptcy plan for Metropolitan is approved early next year, Lyons said.

"We're very pleased about this," said P.J. Grabicki, an attorney representing thousands of Metropolitan's investors in the bankruptcy case.

The beachfront lots were acquired several years ago by Metropolitan for about $17 million as part of its Dillingham Ranch project.

Another parcel, called Mokuleia Shores, was not sold because the $9.5 million bid did not meet the minimum requirements to repay a $15.9 million note.

Met Mortgage, once a $2.7 billion financial conglomerate, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February 2004. The company and its affiliates owe an estimated $583 million, mostly to 16,000 small investors in the Pacific Northwest who bought notes and preferred stock.