Distressed: A look back some of the area’s biggest commercial foreclosures of 2011

At the end of last year, RealtyTrac, the Irvine, Calif.-based company that the media frequently rely on for foreclosure data, released its report on 2010.

For those who don’t like it when foreclosures are up, it was bad news; one in every 50 homes in the Charlotte metropolitan area had foreclosure filings started against them in 2010, an increase of more than 37 percent over 2009.

With a handful of weeks remaining in the year, RealtyTrac’s 2011 report, obviously, cannot be compiled yet.

Still, the final numbers might show an overall decline in foreclosure activity in the Charlotte area this year over last year: At midyear, 6,149 properties in the Charlotte area had received foreclosure filings — default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions — a decline of 18.8 percent from the first half of 2010. At the time, RealtyTrac, which said U.S. foreclosure activity had fallen from the first half of 2010, blamed the slowdown on foreclosure processing delays.

Regardless of how 2011 compares with 2010, multimillion-dollar foreclosure sales were taking place in the Charlotte area this year.

Here’s a look at some of the priciest ones.

NASCAR PLAZA

550 S. Caldwell St., Charlotte

Lender: Wells Fargo

Original loan: $95 million

New owner: 550 South Caldwell Investors LLC

Former owner: Corporate Plaza Partners

Foreclosure sale date: June 30

High bid: $25 million

What happened: NASCAR Plaza has suffered from a high vacancy rate since it was built roughly three years ago. In 2010, the owner and developer at the time, Corporate Plaza Partners LLC, an affiliate of Indiana-based Lauth Group, filed for bankruptcy protection and defaulted on the loan. Philadelphia-based Rubenstein Partners and Charlotte-based Trinity Capital Partners acquired the 20-story, 393,000-square-foot building and the loans for an undisclosed price in late December 2010, according to a press release from CoStar, a commercial real estate information company. In an effort to clear up the title to the property, the companies foreclosed upon themselves at a June foreclosure auction. 550 South Caldwell Investors, which is owned in a joint venture by Trinity and Rubenstein, bought the property for $25 million.

CIELO APARTMENTS

4943 and 5001 Park Road, Charlotte

Lender: Bank of America

Original loan: $38.8 million

New owner: Bank of America

Former owner: Cielo Apartments LLC

Foreclosure sale date: Jan. 14

High bid: $39.2 million

What happened: Cielo filed for bankruptcy Dec. 3, 2010, but Bank of America was granted relief from an automatic stay under bankruptcy code and foreclosed on the property, ultimately buying it at the foreclosure auction. In March, Cornerstone Real Estate Advisors purchased the SouthPark apartment complex from BofA, fulfilling a prior option it had established with Cielo to buy the property once it was developed. The 205-unit apartment complex is being leased. Perks being offered to lure tenants: free Xbox 360 Kinects and $350 Visa gift cards if they move in by the end of the year.

EMPIRIAN AT CARRINGTON PLACE

1825 Carrington Oaks Drive, Charlotte

Lender: Deutsche Bank Mortgage Capital

Original loan: $28.3 million

New owner: GECMC 2006-C1 Carrington Oaks LLC

Former owner: Empirian at Carrington Place LLC

Foreclosure sale date: June 28

High bid: $25.5 million

What happened: Empirian defaulted on the mortgage, which was signed in February 2006, and the apartment property was sold in June to a trust operated by LNR Property LLC, which specializes in commercial real estate debt investing and servicing of real estate assets and securities. The apartment complex is now simply called Carrington Place and is managed by Charleston, S.C.-based Greystar, a real estate investment, management and development company. Buffie Lloyd, assistant manager for Carrington, said the apartment community is 94 percent leased.

CHRISTENBURY CORNERS

Concord Mills Boulevard and
Derita Road, Concord

Lender: Wells Fargo

Original loan: $28.1 million

New owner: Redus PDG LLC

Former owner: PDG/Inland Concord Venture LLC

Foreclosure sale date: March 14

High bid: $12.7 million

What happened: PDG built a Lowe’s in 2008 at one corner of the intersection near Concord Mills mall as part of the Christenbury Corners development plan, but no other buildings have been erected at the 90-acre site despite plans for grocery stores, banks, offices and residential development. Currently, there is only infrastructure at the remainder of the site, although the city of Concord says it has had inquiries from developers. Redus, a Wells Fargo’s subsidiary, has hired Childress Klein Properties to market the site.

MORNINGSIDE APARTMENTS

Ivey Drive and Morningside Drive,
Charlotte

Lender: Wells Fargo

Original loan: $26.2 million

New owner: Wells Fargo

Former owner: Morningside Village LLC

Date of foreclosure sale: Jan. 24

High bid: $19 million

What happened: Morningside Village LLC planned 400 apartments with its $26.2 million construction loan, but the developers defaulted on the loan in 2010. Redus Charlotte Housing LLC, the Wells Fargo subsidiary that takes title to its foreclosed properties, bought back the property in a foreclosure sale. Little is known about the development.

SUMMERWOOD SUBDIVISION

Summerwood subdivision, Clear Creek
township, Mint Hill

Lender: RBC Bank

Original loan: $15 million

New owner: RBC Bank

Former owner: Shea Homes LLC and Shea Homes II LLC

Foreclosure sale dates: Aug. 30 and Oct. 18

High bid: $294,545

What happened: The $294,545 sale was for four lots in the Summerwood subdivision, where home sales and construction stalled during the Great Recession. Summerwood has more than 447 lots, but developer Stephen Pace, of the Pace-Dowd Development Group, told the Mint Hill Board of Commissioners in September 2010 that he hadn’t sold a Summerwood lot in the previous 18 months and only 49 of the lots had homes built on them. Pace could not be reached for comment.

CHARLOTTE PARK OFFICES

4501, 4601 and 4651 Charlotte
Park Drive, Charlotte

Lender: Goldman Sachs Commercial Mortgage Capital

Original loan: $14 million

New owner: GCCFC 2007-GG9 Charlotte Office LLC

Former owner: Charlotte Park I, II and III LLC

Foreclosure sale date: Feb. 15

High bid: $8.1 million

What happened: This multistory, 186,822-square-foot Class B office development was put in receivership — a type of corporate bankruptcy in which a third-party steps in to run the business — in December 2010 with Faison and Associates before it was sold at a foreclosure auction in February. On Dec. 1, Beco South purchased the building from a conglomerate of companies through an auction by LNR, according to Beco South leasing director Mercedes Merritt.

Beco said it will be aggressive in leasing the property. Currently, the leasing rate is quoted as $15 per square foot. It is 38 percent occupied.

The company has begun improvements to the roof and heating and air conditioning systems. Like it does to the other distressed properties that it buys, Beco will make other upgrades, such as building an on-site gym and bringing in food vendors.

THE GARRISON AT GRAHAM

715 N. Graham St., Charlotte

Lender: CommunityOne Bank

New owner: CommunityOne Bank

Former owner: The Garrison at Graham LLC

Original loan: $13.5 million

Foreclosure sale date: Jan. 24

High bid: $8.6 million

What happened: Developer Thomas Barnes’ firm, Hawkins & West, built these 4th Ward condominiums in 2007. Barnes, who also redeveloped North Davidson at 28th Street condominiums, defaulted on the construction loan in 2010.

Twelve of the units are owned privately, but the remaining 33 condos are off the market. Patten Sales and Marketing bought the property in August. Patten specializes in buying and disposing of foreclosed properties across the country. According to one website marketing Uptown condominiums, the units are expected to be for sale again in 2012.

LOTS IN THE ANKLIN FOREST SUBDIVISION

Ruth Haven Drive and Castleford Drive, Mint Hill

Lender: BB&T

New owner: BB&T

Former owner: Fairview Developers Inc.

Original loan: $2.27 million

Foreclosure sale date: June 16

High bid: $1.05 million

What happened: Monroe-based Fairview Developers, led by Gregory Williams, defaulted on a loan for lots in its Anklin Forest subdivision a month before filing for bankruptcy protection in July.

The town of Waxhaw also had to sue for $100,000 after road improvements were not completed. Meanwhile, at least five homes in the subdivision were sold this year. It’s unclear what new owner BB&T has planned for the lots.

28TH RO

2338 Yadkin Ave., Charlotte

Lender: CommunityOne Bank

New owner: CommunityOne Bank

Former owner: North Davidson at 28th Street LLC

Original loan: $11.6 million

Foreclosure sale date: April 21

High bid: $5.7 million

What happened: Developer Gregory Godley partnered with Ty Mathews in the North Davidson at 28th Street LLC project, a condo development containing 46 units.

Godley said CommunityOne called the construction notes on the project despite the condos being built and all the units under contract, after a post-construction appraisal came in to low.

Godley said the developers were not in default on the loan.

Patten Sales and Marketing, which specializes in the buying and disposing of foreclosed properties across the country, bought the property in August. In a press release, Patten said that as of Nov. 15 it had sold more than half of the condos at 28th Ro. A phone number for Patten was disconnected.

Godley, who said he was disappointed in the foreclosure, is now a partner with Legacy Commercial Real Estate in Charlotte.

RAMSEY can be reached at [email protected].