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twitterCondo plans left in the dust
Unfinished project’s eight homeowners hear apartments might be next
Sam Morris
Construction debris litters the area around unfinished midrise condominium buildings at Uptown on Centennial Parkway in North Las Vegas. Chris Adams bought his unit in 2007 while the project was still being built and before the developer let it fall into foreclosure. Adams says all work on the project has stopped.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008 | 2 a.m.
The North Las Vegas area where Upfront sits unfinished is zoned for multifamily housing. Adams says he wants to be bought out if a new developer changes the condo units to apartments.
One of eight Uptown residents, Chris Adams says amenities such as a pool and a clubhouse with a fitness center have never opened.
Vandals have broken windows at the condo complex. The pool was never filled with water, and the clubhouse sits locked and unused. Another company, Blue Marble Development, based in California, wants to turn the units into apartments.
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Beyond the Sun
Chris Adams was excited to be one of the first occupants of a midrise condominium complex along Centennial Parkway in North Las Vegas. It made the perfect bachelor pad, with its modern architecture, apple red exterior and view of the mountains.
Eighteen months later, he’s getting pretty tired of still being one of the first occupants of the place.
In the three-building complex, totaling 75 units, Adams has only seven neighbors.
The other units sit vacant in varying degrees of completion. His building and another are almost finished but a third is nowhere close. Work on three other planned buildings never began.
It’s spooky at night, the darkness of the desert enclosing on the nearly empty buildings. There’s little noise or movement.
The pool is empty and the clubhouse remains locked, keeping a fitness center and a community room off limits. In front of the complex, the address appears to have been hastily spray-painted on a slab of rock. Above it, a billboard depicts a good-looking couple embracing, enjoying carefree living.
“I can tell you that they don’t live here,” Adams says, because he really does know everyone in the neighborhood.
Adams, 50, spent his life working for this lifestyle. He left the grind of TV news reporting in Houston and moved to Las Vegas to create documentary films. In January 2007, he plunked down $20,000 cash for his $218,000 condo.
Then he noticed the plumbers weren’t coming to finish work on neighboring units in his building. Soon the electricians stopped returning. When all the workers were gone, he started to worry.
The complex went into foreclosure. Now another developer plans to purchase the project. It has been rebranded as Uptown. The marketing strategy: “Next Generation Condominiums.”
But they might not be.
Blue Marble Development, a California-based company with Las Vegas offices, wants to convert the unsold units into apartments. Blue Marble representatives did not return calls to their Las Vegas office this week.
On its Web site, the company lists a public relations company, but that company says it no longer represents the developer.
Blue Marble is also developing Paxton Walk, a planned 30-acre mixed-use project in northwest Las Vegas. Construction has stopped on that project.
Adams shudders to think how apartments will affect the value of his condo. He certainly never intended to be surrounded by apartments when he agreed to make $1,300 monthly mortgage payments.
The buildings are targets for vandals. A half-dozen shattered windows have been boarded up, giving the complex that low-rent feel. The trappings of construction crews who one day packed up their tools and never returned can be found inside the unfinished buildings — soda bottles, paint brushes, fast-food wrappers.
“It could have been a nice place to live,” he says, walking past a small playground that gets little use. “It would be like taking your kid to a junkyard to play.”
He’s looking to North Las Vegas for help.
His remarks at a recent City Council meeting were the first that city officials have heard of the situation. The new developer has not applied for building permits.
Adams figures the city cannot allow the complex to change from owner occupied to rental units. A city spokeswoman said it’s a civil matter. The area is zoned for multifamily residences.
If the developer wants to turn the other units in his building from condos into apartments, Adams wants to be bought out.
If that doesn’t work, he’s at least hoping they put some water in the pool.
Discussion: 15 comments so far…
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Are real estate developers lower than lawyers and used car salesmen?
I put $20k into a condo in Chicago with hopes of relocating. The developer, Andrius Augunas, stole my deposit, along with 39 others after somehow managing to close the escrow account. The bank foreclosed on the partially erected structure and I'm left in a position of having a contract of doubtful value and no hope of ever seeing my deposit again.
I don't envy Chris's position, and I hope that he doesn't wind up surrounded by apartments, but it could be much worse. It can always be worse.
No, realtors are. They're the ones who convince us to buy this stuff. I often wonder why they were not discussed as part of the whole mortgage mess. At least in Vegas, they were certainly more than willing to say "buy now, before it's too late!" and get people to invest via some of these shady lending schemes. I know that from experience, although I was lucky enough to dodge that by refinancing before the crisis hit.
This is Chris Adams, I’m featured in the story. First I want to Thank Mike and Sam for their great work. I think the story and photos really help to capture the deep frustration the other owners and I feel.
What I am beginning to learn is that we are not alone. Condo owners at other developments in the valley have approached me with their own horror stories.
I believe the law should help protect people who buy homes and condos in good faith. If Nevada law does not do that at this time, then it is time for the law to change!
I will meet with officials of the City of North Las Vegas tomorrow and again ask that the city not issue building permits at Agave without the consent of all the owners --not just the bank or the developer -- but all the owners.
The city must choose whether only big banks and big developers have rights -- or whether local government works for ordinary working people too.
There is more to this story. I hope to share it with you.
Chris Adams
Chris, I hope you get a quick and favorable resolution to your predicament. Those condos look like they would be awesome if/when they are completed to plan. Best of luck to you and your neighbors!
Hey, Chris .... hang in there & know that you have a lot of people behind you. Do share as much of the story as you can and if there's any way to keep us up-to-date, please try to do so.
Good luck!
Chris, I am a neighbor in the Parks development behind yours. I think it is sad day in our Community. I would have hoped that company would be required to put up a bond or insurance to cover an incident like this.
I hope you get Justice and Satisfaction.
"They're the ones who convince us to buy this stuff."
And I have some swampland in Florida, real cheap. How about taking some personal responsibility?
Good luck Chris. Maybe you can use your experience as a subject for a documentary. Getting city officials on camera might help your cause too.
Re Teaser's: "No, realtors are. They're the ones who convince us to buy this stuff."
No one makes you sign on the dotted line...be it a contract or loan documents...always do your homework and read the fine print first before signing. People got caught up in the buying frenzy.
I want to thank Chris for all his hard efforts on behalf of all the condo owners at Agave/ Uptown. As one of those owners, I have been involved in real estate for about 20 years now (as a homeowner and investor) and could not have fathomed all the 'holes' in the law that do not protect responsible homeowners in these situations. At every turn, nearly every entity we have dealt with has protected themselves at the expense of each one of us. It hurts every viable home owner in the US when these types of things go on because it reduces trust in Banks, Developers and the entire real estate process. We all hope this story ends well!
Guess everyone had their eyes shut and their ears closed.Was there anyone watching the market?
The cure for all this is transparency. Since LV is ground-zero for the real estate debacle in the West, Nevada as a state should take the legislative lead in requiring total & constant transparency before, during, and after RE transactions. Becoming the first state as a testbed would be an economic boost on its own, attracting web & software developers for the process.
What this means is all elements of the RE process should be encouraged, and later required, by law, to migrate to the Internet. Buyers & sellers can see everything that's going on behind the scenes. All legal, insurance, construction, design, inspection, regulatory, financial inputs are forced to become transparent AND private (via passwords, other credentialed documentations) to the specific parties involved. Past condo wrecks from developers who hide in the future won't be tolerated by the marektplace.
As this process takes hold, all transactions will ultimately be done in this manner. Real estate commissions will shrink dramatically as the "efficiency of the market" increases, so will any buy-sell pricing spreads, as it becomes easier to effect a transaction with a minimum murkiness. Real estate salespeople will be compensated more like car salesmen, who unlike them, have an actual inventory risk in the cars they're trying to move off the lot.
Hi Everyone:
This is Chris Adams again. I am impressed by what "TechWreck" has written.
The solutions he suggests may have real merit! Clearly a large part of why individuals who bought at the Agave Condos were victimized and may well be victimized again has to do with the whole issue of transparency.
Currently the owners at Agave are making contact with our legislative representatives. I look forward to sharing with them “TechWreck’s” ideas.
More transparency might mean more protection for hardworking people who invest their life savings in the hopes of owning a home.
If anyone else has any good ideas for legislation in this area I’d love to hear it and possibly share it with our political leadership.
This is not about real estate “flippers” or “No Doc” loans. It’s about basic fairness for working people.
To torklugnutz - i have seen your comments concerning a developer called Andrius Augunas, and you are not the only one that lost money from this screwball moron. Please let me know how i can contact u to discuss further - from a prospective to broken Motor Row Tenant !! Also, what was name of Andrius attorneys that you dealt with? Was it Bronson & Kahn?