SKYE Condominiums and Hyatt Place Hotel

[49er]

Rumor says the City may be interested in buying it at a substantial discount and converting to additional offices for the gov't center.

[dxartist]

Rumor says the City may be interested in buying it at a substantial discount and converting to additional offices for the gov't center.

What about the buyers who currently have money tied up in the project?

[49er]

Well I would hope that they somehow get their deposits back but thats not the responsibility of the buyer really. It could just as easily sit idle for 20 years like the tower in fort mill that was never finished.

[monsoon]

Well I would hope that they somehow get their deposits back but thats not the responsibility of the buyer really. It could just as easily sit idle for 20 years like the tower in fort mill that was never finished.

Indeed, though the 22 story tower at Ft. Mill was not a condo. It was a timeshare scheme and where it failed is when the Bakkers sold 3 to 4 times the numbers of memberships than what could be supported by the building. Various investors, real estate developers, etc all said they were going to buy it and finish the building, but they never managed to do so. The last attempt was reported here on UP a couple of years ago where the present owners said they were going to convert it to luxury condos. I am sure there are spectacular views of downtown as well as Lake Wylie from up there, but they did not pull it off.

The building has sat there now for 2 decades partially finished, and I believe now is un-salvageable.

[Charlotteman]

Rumor says the City may be interested in buying it at a substantial discount and converting to additional offices for the gov't center.

Geeze I've heard it all now. How could a residential structure be converted to office space without costing a fortune????

[Andyc545]

Geeze I've heard it all now. How could a residential structure be converted to office space without costing a fortune????

Does sound peculiar. Isn't the ceilings only 9-10 feet high, and there are balconies for each of the units. Then you have the rooftop park with swimming pool and I think a lot of those units looked framed out if I'm not mistaken. If it wasn't as far along as it was I'd see it more realistic, but at this point, I find that one hard to believe.

Monsoon- is there a link somewhere that I may be able to find more information on that Fort Mill development here on UP or elsewhere? Sounds sort of interesting...

From last Nov:

[monsoon]

Monsoon- is there a link somewhere that I may be able to find more information on that Fort Mill development here on UP or elsewhere? Sounds sort of interesting...

Some photos of the tower in better days can be seen here. It is all still there and if you do some searching you can find more recent photos. The landmark is very noticeable from many flights coming into Charlotte.

If you want to see where it is on the maps. Here is the link

This one is probably more recent.

.

[49er]

well, the county currently uses an old sears building on north tryon where workers dwell in a huge basement with no windows. they also work out of the old but converted Freedom Mall strip mall on the westside. I guess my point is with government, anything is possible! Its amazing that after all these years the tower makes it this far and stops. I honestly never thought it was so easy for towers to cease construction. Once the dirt started moving, I always just assumed they would be finished.

[johnpro318]

Some photos of the tower in better days can be seen here. It is all still there and if you do some searching you can find more recent photos. The landmark is very noticeable from many flights coming into Charlotte.

If you want to see where it is on the maps. Here is the link

This one is probably more recent.

.

yeah, i'd love to see the link to a forum on UP talking about this project (if there is one)... haha

[monsoon]

yeah, i'd love to see the link to a forum on UP talking about this project (if there is one)... haha

Indeed there is/was. We last talked about it around a year ago in this topic.

It is a very clear example that sometimes these things never get finished. 20 years ago, Heritage USA was one of the biggest attractions in the SE, had a national TV show, and celebrities running it. Aside from complex, there was also a huge water amusement park that was packed all summer. Their Christmas light show was so large that it would paralyze I-77 for hours each night while 10s of thousands would go there to see it. The tower seemed to be a good idea given the popularity of the area and so one went up. Unfortunately it did not have sound financing behind it and work simply halted. By that time of course Bakker had the feds after him for tax charges, and then there was that inconvenient episode with Jessica Hahn.

It should be considered a lesson for the present in regards to having a sound business plan for building a skyscraper. Ironically Verna was probably the most pragmatic of all the developers in building The Park. Other's, it seems, had to make quality compromises to get their tower built, or their projects have been placed on hold, etc.

Finally it should be noted the Heritage PTL Tower was the tallest residential tower in the Charlotte area for at least 15 years. I am not sure if the Arlington is taller, but the Trademark and Avenue finally exceeded it's height. I guess that says something about the need for such things in Charlotte.

[MZT]

I don't think the conversion would be so bad, considering that it's not completed. Might even save some money by simplifying the plumbing for offices. Elevators could be a problem, though. Don't residential buildings need fewer of them?

Maybe the county could turn it into minimum security jail space. Inmates don't need to travel up and down very much.

[mikethomasson]

Good News. Received an email today stating that construction should resume within the next week or so. Looks like the Park will be finished after all.

FYI - This email was from a very reliable source whom I shall not identify

[Mobuchu]

Sorry, but we've heard that too many times. Eventually it does resume, but not for months or even years later. Then it stops again...

I'll believe it when I see it.

[mikethomasson]

I hear ya Mobucho but trust me...I would not have received this email if things were not back on track. I will put it like this if you own a hamburger stand and you order hamburger meat it stands to reason you will be making hamburgers.

[Raintree21]

I hear ya Mobucho but trust me...I would not have received this email if things were not back on track. I will put it like this if you own a hamburger stand and you order hamburger meat it stands to reason you will be making hamburgers.

So in other words, you're saying that someone at The Park has ordered a bunch of construction supplies in anticipation of resuming work shortly?

[swh1972]

Uhh, how are they going to pay for the "Hamburger Meat"?

[charlotte49ersuptown]

I hope you are right, but with the exterior elevators coming down and 3rd Street opening the far left lane back up it seems that the site will be dormant for more than just one more week. Certainly we would all like to see work resume next week but I am not holding my breath.

[MZT]

Perhaps it's just enough construction material to secure the building against the weather until its future can be decided.

[BUILDIT]

well more construction equipment was hauled off on tuesday. Verna was there in the flesh too. This guy is going to have a sticky future. Cheap once it hits auction though, I just feel bad for all the buyers who have lost deposits.

[swh1972]

I could be wrong, but I don't think Verna would have needed to keep these in escrow for 4+ years. I think there is a period of time when the monies are guaranteed back to the investors by NC law, but that time has long since passed.

[ontap]

In regards to the deposits. Shouldn't they have been held in escrow accounts that would be protected from this loss?

That all depends on how the contract was written. The NC Bar form requires real estate companies to place earnest money into escrow accounts and hold it there until closing or as ordered by court of law. Often builder contracts are written to allow use of earnest money deposits as "working capital". It's entirely possible that the deposit money is long gone. Anyone who bought a unit needs to review their contract.

[monsoon]

I've said many times that putting money down on a condo in an unbuilt building is risky at best. I've seen too many of these go bad in Myrtle Beach. I guess if this is the case then this is a further confirmation of that opinion.

[Charlotteman]

I've said many times that putting money down on a condo in an unbuilt building is risky at best. I've seen too many of these go bad in Myrtle Beach.....

I wasn't aware of past residential towers being abandoned in the Carolinas, during their construction. (except for Heritage USA Tower of course) This is news to me, and the investors in the Park probably never would have imagined this happening either.

Perhaps buying into an incomplete condo tower is gambling, pure and simple. Many of us don't like gambling, and surely this is a warning to anyone in the future. If you want the excitement of Vegas without leaving Charlotte, you had better be prepared to lose. Vegas makes no guarantees, and for buyers into the Park, this whole thing is looking like a major gambling loss.

[monsoon]

According to the evening news, there has been a lawsuit filed against the people developing The Park by a group of the purchasers that paid deposits. It accuses the Park developers of all kinds of wrongs including continuing to sell units even after they knew there were liens being placed on the property that would affect the outcome of the project. It sounds as if they are not going to get their money back as it has already been spent.

[Spartan]

I wasn't aware of past residential towers being abandoned in the Carolinas, during their construction. (except for Heritage USA Tower of course) This is news to me, and the investors in the Park probably never would have imagined this happening either.

Yeah Myrtle Beach projects tend to go by under the radar since in general nobody who is from Myrtle Beach actually buys them. They have a completely different target market (northern retirees). At anyrate, Myrtle Beach has a completely different set of problems to deal with. Its a shame we don't have better coverage here on UP as it would be a interesting comparison.