Nashville Developer Faces Foreclosure

Nashville Developer Faces Foreclosure

According to this Nashville Business Journal article, Bank forecloses on property for Crosland's Griffin Plaza, Crosland, Inc.'s Griffin Plaza property (a 280,000 square-foot mixed-use development) in Downtown Nashville TN (in the Gulch area) is being foreclosed on by Carolina First Bank. The trustee auction sale is scheduled to take place on 11/30/2009 at 11:00 AM in front of the main entrance to the Sommet Center. This news comes only about a week after I posted my article, Terrazzo in Nashville Gulch to Auction Condo Units Due to Slow Sales, in which I predicted that the developer of the Terrazzo (also Crosland) would face foreclosure on that project. Now, I am almost certain that foreclosure will occur. It is clear that many other Nashville Tennessee and Middle Tennessee developers will go bankrupt and/or face foreclosure. The worst is yet to come.

If you are a Middle TN real estate investor, home builder or real estate developer who cannot pay the property/project mortgage payments (due to the poor economy, adverse financing conditions, slow sales, loss of investment property tenants, vacancy issues, lack of funds to complete the project, feuding business partners, etc.), have already defaulted on the mortgage, or are already in foreclosure, or owe more than the property/project is worth, please contact me to discuss your options including a short sale (a real estate short sale occurs when the sale proceeds are not sufficient to pay off all the mortgages and liens on the property/project). I am a Middle Tennessee distressed real estate, short sale, pre-foreclosure (preforeclosure) and foreclosure REALTOR and Expert. I primarily help sellers (property owners, real estate investors, home builders and real estate developers) of distressed real estate, short sales, pre-foreclosures, foreclosures, investment properties, failed new construction projects and struggling commercial real estate developments located in and around Middle Tennessee (Rutherford County TN, Williamson County TN, Davidson County TN, Murfreesboro TN, Smyrna TN, La Vergne TN, Eagleville TN, Lascassas TN, Rockvale TN, Christiana TN, Brentwood TN, Franklin TN, Nashville TN and Belle Meade TN).  If you do need to short sell your home or property, or you need a quick sale due to being in foreclosure, you can request short sale and foreclosure help and assistance on my website at Get Short Sale and Foreclosure Help and Assistance from a Middle Tennessee Short Sale and Foreclosure REALTOR and Real Estate Expert.

Terrazzo to Auction Condo Units Due to Slow Sales

Terrazzo in Nashville Gulch to Auction Condo Units Due to Slow Sales

According to this Nashville Business Journal article, Terrazzo to slash prices, auction condos, Crosland, the developers the Terrazzo, a $68 million 117 unit luxury high rise condo project in the Gulch section of downtown Nashville Tennessee, will auction off up to 30 units at 1:00 PM CST on November 21st at the Renaissance Hotel. According to the article, sluggish sales are the reason that the developer opted to auction off some condo units.

The article quotes Bill Barkley, president of Crosland's Tennessee division (the developer of the Terrazzo) as saying that the auction "offers Terrazzo the opportunity to sell a significant number of condominium homes and instantly build the growing community at Terrazzo — all in a single day."  The article goes on to state the following terms and conditions of the Terrazzo auction:

• "Minimum offering bids will range between 40 percent and 50 percent of list price. Minimum bids for one-bedroom units will range between $159,000 and $225,000, two-bedroom units will start between $250,000 and $310,000, and three-bedroom units will start at $399,000. Bids will include one parking space in the mixed-use building’s underground garage."
• "Interested buyers are required to register and preview the units before bidding. According to the Terrazzo’s Web site, bidders will need to come prepared with a cashier’s check or money order for $5,000 and a blank personal check, which will be added to the $5,000 to equal 5 percent of the winning bid price."

I would like to say a couple of things about this auction:

• The minimum bid prices are still too high.  This will result in very light bidding.
• Overall, I do not think many units will sell at these prices. See my previous blog post, Birmingham Auction Ended Abruptly After Too Many "Low Bids", for the results of a condo auction in Birmingham Alabama. The highest bids at that auction were only about one-third of the original list prices.
• According to the City Federal Condos (the Birmingham condo project mentioned above) website, the developer is now trying to sell the condo units that fetched $80,000 at the auction for $139,000.  My guess is that this project will be bankrupt in less than 12 months.
• Even if the developers do sell some some units at 50% of the original list prices, what happens to the people who already purchased condos before the price drop?  If they have to sell due to a job loss, job relocation, illness, or other reason, they will lose over $100,000, or be forced to short sale their condos.
• Based on the above information, I think that the Terrazzo will end up being auctioned off by the lenders who financed the project.  Until the developers accept the fact that there is only a limited number of high income young people and wealthy "empty nesters" they will never price their condo units where the overwhelming majority of the market is.  It seems like the developers are still in denial.

If you are a home buyer or real estate investor in Middle Tennessee who is interested in purchasing a Fannie Mae foreclosure, a Freddie Mac foreclosure, another foreclosure, REO, short sale, auction home, or other distressed real estate in order to get a great home or investment property at a low price, please contact me, or visit my website Search the Middle Tennessee MLS - Find Middle TN Short Sales, Pre-foreclosures, Foreclosures & REO's so that you can find foreclosures, short sales and other distressed real estate and homes in Middle TN. I help home buyers in Rutherford County TN, Williamson County TN, Davidson County TN, Murfreesboro TN, Smyrna TN, La Vergne TN, Eagleville TN, Lascassas TN, Rockvale TN, Christiana TN, Brentwood TN, Franklin TN, Nashville TN and Belle Meade TN.

Birmingham Auction Ended Abruptly After Too Many "Low Bids"

According this article in The Birmingham News, City Federal auction ends abruptly due to low bids, the auction was originally scheduled to sell off 20 condo units, but was stopped after only 11 sold due to what the condo project owners, Synergy Realty Services LLC, called "low bids". Condos that once were listed for $239,000 to $935,000 ended up selling for only $80,000 to $320,000. The project owners said they were disappointed by the low prices, but would try to re-market the remaining condos at pre-auction prices.

My opinion is that these people are fools. There is no other market for these condos. $935,000 for a condo in Birmingham? Sorry, it makes no sense. That market is long gone and never coming back. It was a sham built upon a mountain of debt that is no longer available. The condo project owners should liquidate for whatever they can get as it is only going to get worse.