Let’s see, the city of Charlotte has an option to buy part of Eastland Mall, the mall that the owner may just walk away from rather than pay a $42m. mortgage payment. Meanwhile, city council voted unanimously last night to spend $450K in taxpayers dollars to speculate in real estate in the Peachtree Hills neighborhood.
Councilman John Lassiter explicitly said that the city did not want private investors buying the foreclosed properties because they would become rental units and rental units mean more crime and neighborhood decay. Remember that logic the next time someone comes begging for more “affordable housing” in the city.
In other deals, the gift of the EpiCenter keeps giving. Among the recently filed court documents is a letter from the attorneys for EpiCenter developer Ghazi/Pacific LLC to estranged partner and condo developer Flaherty & Collins from October 2007. It reveals that relations were already strained and Ghazi discussing damages and arbitration over the construction at the Uptown site.
One issue, the number of loading docks requiring by the city, which was more than expected. As a result, Ghazi was seeking an additional $1.2m. from Flaherty. Again we ask, did anyone with the city know about these long-standing problems when city council voted in May to rip up the incentive deal with Ghazi and immediately send $550,000 to the developer?
See, if you are going to play in the real estate market, you kinda hafta follow through. You would if the money was coming out of your own pockets, rather than those of taxpayers you claim to represent.
Bonus Observation: Back in March that mortgage payment was reported to be between $36m. and $38m. — now it is $42m. What changed?
