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210 Trade | EpiCentre


monsoon

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^If they are still pouring floors, I would say that is some sort of positive sign. I was Myrtle Beach this past weekend and noticed several condo tower projects where work has completely stopped. Stopped to the point that the building materials already on the site are deteriorating due to the winter weather and salty environment. It's rather odd, but not unprecedented there to see a 20+ story partially built condo tower with no activity taking place at all. This would be unprecedented in Charlotte should it occur, but I guess it could happen. Maybe 210 Trade and The Park will be CLT's first examples.

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Well, the last pour was 6 weeks ago (by looking at the webcam) and that was half a floor....no one has even been in the tower crane for the condo tower in 16 days. In my opinion, all activity up until this point has been due to cash outlayed from the developer, who has been trying to keep positive momentum.

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Did the city put any conditions on the sale of this property (must have retail, residential, etc.)?

I don't believe so. The synthetic-TIF financing is based on sales-tax revenue, as opposed to property tax revenue, so in theory Ghazi isn't in any danger of not getting repaid by the city and county, unless this affects the tenants in that portion of the complex.

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I followed up with my little bird.....apparantly it was a case of the loan being reduced and now there is a $$$ hole in the funding that will need to be filled.....I don't know if they are going to be able to find another lender to fill the hole, or if they are going to have to raise more equity/cash.

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I followed up with my little bird.....apparantly it was a case of the loan being reduced and now there is a $$$ hole in the funding that will need to be filled.....I don't know if they are going to be able to find another lender to fill the hole, or if they are going to have to raise more equity/cash.

The gap will be filled with equity or mezz.

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The jumbotron in the rear of the epicentre is now working -- it's displaying Coming Soon ads for the future occupants.

Still wondering if that AT&T ad will turn into a curved jumbotron. I just can't imagine them leaving it as a billboard.

There was that article posted a few weeks ago that had a lot of people angry over the AT&T ad, so hopefully it will switch to LED. I had always thought they would stick with a screen and the ad was just temporary. Hopefully...

Edit: looking at the webcam, the screen is illuminating all of the Ritz and BofA Parking Deck. It looks really bright!

Edited by Andyc545
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I would venture a guess that when TTT had to have all of their buyers re-sign contracts that they lost quite a few who saw it as a way out. Maybe it was such a significant number of people that it reduced their number of sold condos to less than 50% which slowed their construction loan. This happened at the Vue so it's not completely unrealistic. I could be way off but that would be my guess.

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I walked past here on a little walk at lunch time today. Between the weather, the ACC tourny, and the fact that there are often people walking on Trade between the transit center and Tryon, the area was just bumping with activity. All the tables in front of the arena were filled with people eating lunch, it is just a glimpse of the type of place Trade will be when Epicenter opens.

Perhaps it is from reading our blank wall debates back in the day, but the section of Trade Street that fronts the Avenue has a lot of cool improvements over the renderings. First, instead of a blank walk between the deck entrance and the corner, they have an opening probably 5'x20' that appears to be either a spot for window shopping or more likely just grated up to be some functional element for the deck. But the cool air from the shaded deck was just pouring out, which made it feel really cool on that stretch of sidewalk. They have also built planters that swoop in and out with an edge that is wide enough to provide perfect spots for sitting down. The planters also have a deep well so I'm sure they'll have nice ornamental trees. Given the wide sidewalks, the nice landscaping destined for the planters, and the fact that you can sit on the wall comfortably, I see that as a place that will be full of people eating their lunch or sitting and reading randomly. It isn't as nice as retail fronting the whole section at the sidewalk level, but given the grade changes, and all the compromises to fit in the deck and everything else on that block, I think they have mitigated the problems very well.

The LED billboard thing is definitely goofy as hell, but I can envision the facade with all the retail names painted all over, and with people in all the random balconies and walk ways, and I think the overall visual clutter that will eventually be there will make it seem not as out of place as it down now. It just would have been nice if they'd designed it to look like it was planned all along for that place or something.

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I walked past here on a little walk at lunch time today. Between the weather, the ACC tourny, and the fact that there are often people walking on Trade between the transit center and Tryon, the area was just bumping with activity. All the tables in front of the arena were filled with people eating lunch, it is just a glimpse of the type of place Trade will be when Epicenter opens.

It's been like that for a couple days. A lot of the ACC folks seem to have come early and have been all over town -- I LOVE when events like this are here -- the energy is GREAT. I haven't walked down near 210 or the Arena, though, I'll have to do that later on. I have friends coming to town tonight from Miami, we were hoping Epicentre would be open by the time they came (they come 2 or 3 times a year). Oh well, at least they can see how it is going so far!

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It's been like that for a couple days. A lot of the ACC folks seem to have come early and have been all over town -- I LOVE when events like this are here -- the energy is GREAT. I haven't walked down near 210 or the Arena, though, I'll have to do that later on. I have friends coming to town tonight from Miami, we were hoping Epicentre would be open by the time they came (they come 2 or 3 times a year). Oh well, at least they can see how it is going so far!

I was in the area one afternoon during the CIAA Tourny. I couldn't agree anymore, the enviornment is incredible; live bands, vendors, fans, and everyone else that is not even taking part in the activities but just want to be around for a good time. The best thing is seeing everyone smiling and laughing and the noises and the smells... I love it!

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I was in the area one afternoon during the CIAA Tourny. I couldn't agree anymore, the enviornment is incredible; live bands, vendors, fans, and everyone else that is not even taking part in the activities but just want to be around for a good time. The best thing is seeing everyone smiling and laughing and the noises and the smells... I love it!

This is what makes the events fun...the people that come for the event pack the place and provide what you've listed, then those of us that live here can go enjoy it all!! I just can't imagine how much more fun it will be when the sidewalk oriented stuff from Epicentre is actually part of it all... :P

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http://charlotte.bizjournals.com/charlotte.../17/story1.html

The tower has been officially delayed, but not shelved. They say we can expect no more than 2 more months of innactivity. Apparently Flaherty and Collins, an indiananapolis suburban apartment community, didn't know the protocol for building a 53 story condo tower. Thanks to their Inexperience with highrises, F&C didn't really pay attention to any codes that actually were in place so now there is a huge mess to work out. Actually Charlotte didn't even seem to have protocol inplace for a large project by 3 developers, so its partly their fault as well. Luckily for us, Ghazi and Starwood Hotels have experience in such things so their components have actually not been effected by this huge mess. They said that its not a horrible thing, they expect to start back in two months and plan to move 1 floor per 8 days, which would mean they top off in about 14 months (hopefully.) Thanks to Flaherty and Collins the plan will now be in place for projects such as the vue and wachovia, so less problems will be created for them.

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http://charlotte.bizjournals.com/charlotte.../17/story1.html

The tower has been officially delayed, but not shelved. They say we can expect no more than 2 more months of innactivity. Apparently Flaherty and Collins, an indiananapolis suburban apartment community, didn't know the protocol for building a 53 story condo tower. Thanks to their Inexperience with highrises, F&C didn't really pay attention to any codes that actually were in place so now there is a huge mess to work out. Actually Charlotte didn't even seem to have protocol inplace for a large project by 3 developers, so its partly their fault as well. Luckily for us, Ghazi and Starwood Hotels have experience in such things so their components have actually not been effected by this huge mess. They said that its not a horrible thing, they expect to start back in two months and plan to move 1 floor per 8 days, which would mean they top off in about 14 months (hopefully.) Thanks to Flaherty and Collins the plan will now be in place for projects such as the vue and wachovia, so less problems will be created for them.

This is an interesting story ... I haven't done any reseach on F&C, but had assumed that they at least had highrise experience in other markets. Sounds like the silver lining in this delay is that the County permitting process will become easier for mega-projects after they staff up the new department referred to in another Biz Journal article in the same issue.
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http://charlotte.bizjournals.com/charlotte.../17/story1.html

The tower has been officially delayed, but not shelved. They say we can expect no more than 2 more months of innactivity. Apparently Flaherty and Collins, an indiananapolis suburban apartment community, didn't know the protocol for building a 53 story condo tower. Thanks to their Inexperience with highrises, F&C didn't really pay attention to any codes that actually were in place so now there is a huge mess to work out. Actually Charlotte didn't even seem to have protocol inplace for a large project by 3 developers, so its partly their fault as well. Luckily for us, Ghazi and Starwood Hotels have experience in such things so their components have actually not been effected by this huge mess. They said that its not a horrible thing, they expect to start back in two months and plan to move 1 floor per 8 days, which would mean they top off in about 14 months (hopefully.) Thanks to Flaherty and Collins the plan will now be in place for projects such as the vue and wachovia, so less problems will be created for them.

This is why I stated I was hearing something different then what was said about loans. I don't doubt this source with their connection to the project.

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This is an interesting story ... I haven't done any reseach on F&C, but had assumed that they at least had highrise experience in other markets. Sounds like the silver lining in this delay is that the County permitting process will become easier for mega-projects after they staff up the new department referred to in another Biz Journal article in the same issue.

We knew way back on this thread F&C had zero experience in building condo towers and wondered if they could actually pull it off. Most of their project are housing developments.

Edited by dxartist
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While I hate to see the building delayed, I wonder how this will affect their financing and what about the people who have reserved condos and put money down?

If you believe what you read, the delay will be approx 60 days while the attorney's sort thru the "horizontal rights" issues. Financing is in place but the bank will not release money until this is resolved. There was cushion in the construction schedule for delays. F&C hopes to make up time and finish according to schedule. I guess we'll have to wait 14 months to see if it's topped out.

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At least money isn't the issue, as that will likely mean that when they crack the issues, all will be worked out. It is good to hear that the local governement will end up with better experience with urban projects of higher complexity. We will definitely need that more and more as projects will seek to increase what goes on a single block of land. I think the times are done when the banks will just develop a whole block themselves. I suspect more projects will be done like EpiCentre with air rights sales, etc, in the future.

I do applaud Ghazi for making it all work, although I really hope he graduates to better materials eventually. Otherwise, I think he does a lot of stuff right, or in the right spirit.

I stood and looked at this building from the arena plaza yesterday. It is really going to make a huge impression with its location and scale. I hope they get their act together and move forward.

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..... they expect to start back in two months and plan to move 1 floor per 8 days, which would mean they top off in about 14 months (hopefully.) Thanks to Flaherty and Collins the plan will now be in place for projects such as the vue and wachovia, so less problems will be created for them.

This seems very slow and leisurely. I saw on build it bigger that Trump is pouring 2.5 floors/week on his towers (or one in a little less than 3 days)

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