I bit of details in this article and some quotes from CIM...looks like Aura is picking up some extra sales
Sounds like CIMs Watrerview in DC is going to be somewhat of a model they are looking at with twin buildings. One office building and one hotel and condo building.
Not a fan of the look, but I'm sure they wont' look the same, esp since it looks like the site in DC is MUCH bigger.
http://www.waterviewresidences.com/
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Towers can't dig out of hole
CalPERS buys out developer, sees new project downtown.
By Jon Ortiz - Bee Staff Writer
It's just a hole in the ground near the Sacramento River right now. But to get an idea of what might be built where John Saca tried and failed to erect two 53-story high-rises, look 2,700 miles east to the banks of the Potomac.
That's where CIM Group, the Los Angeles development firm commissioned to revive the dormant Towers construction site at Third Street and Capitol Mall, has built Waterview, a twin-towered hotel, office and condominium complex outside Washington, D.C.
CIM officials say they view that building as the type they'll construct on what is now a barren downtown Sacramento site covered in dirt and weeds and the remnants of construction that barely had the chance to begin.
On Tuesday, the California Public Employees' Retirement System, an early investor in developer Saca's dream, said it had bought out his interest in the struggling project.
The announcement ends a proposal that was at once hailed as visionary and dismissed as oversized. But even as the Towers sparked controversy, it renewed interest in downtown living and gave rise to rival condominium projects.
One competitor said Tuesday that the Towers' demise has already helped his business.
Condo market experts say Saca's failure to build the Towers symbolizes the rough waters builders face.
"The big markets -- Miami, San Diego, places like that -- have units in foreclosure and projects in the pipeline going away," said Bruce Slaton, president of sacramentocondos.com, which tracks the local condo market. "It's a tough cycle right now."
CIM principal John Given said his firm will take a "fresh look" at the site, "but not lose the ultimate vision that Saca had" for a mixed-use tower.
"It is a very important location for Sacramento's development," Given said. "We envision planning the site so that it can have an office building and a hotel-condo building. And Waterview is a good example."
Many in the local commercial real estate community applauded Saca's vision when he announced the building nearly three years ago. But they questioned whether the Towers, which promised a 230-room four-star hotel, condos with room service and a fitness center, was overreaching in Sacramento. And they wondered whether Saca, a strip-mall builder with no high-rise development experience, could pull it off.
Still, the idea caught on with other developers, including Craig Nassi, the Denver-based developer behind the Aura high-rise condo tower proposed for 601 Capitol Mall, just a few blocks from the Towers site.
At first, Saca successfully lined up financial backers for his plans. CalPERS committed $100 million of the projected $500 million cost. Deutsche Bank, the Germany-based multinational, agreed to loan him $350 million if he hit certain condo sales targets.
The city kicked in an $11 million subsidy for hotel furnishings and fixtures that Saca would be able to tap once the project was built.
Sales of the condos, which ranged from $368,000 to more than a $1 million, began in 2005, with Saca eventually taking deposits of 10 percent down on 402 of the Towers' 804 units. In a press release Tuesday, he said he will immediately refund that money. Saca could not be reached for additional comment.
Betty Ford, who put $130,375 down on a 48th-floor unit and two parking spaces priced at $1,307,654, said she's not worried about her money.
"It's in a trust," said Ford, a director at a local medical clinic. "But I was really excited about living downtown with all the Towers' amenities."
By the time Saca broke ground last summer, the Towers had drawn national attention, but it quickly fell victim to soaring construction costs, running more than $70 million over budget by the fall.
Meanwhile, a soft housing market and competition from nearby housing projects slowed condo sales.
Construction work stopped in January after CalPERS, which already had spent $25 million, said it would spend no more. Unpaid debt piled up. Contractors filed $13 million in liens against the Towers, claiming they hadn't been paid.
The parcel, the site of the former Sacramento Union newspaper, became little more than a fenced-in hole with hundreds of concrete pilings chopped off at ground level.
CIM's Givens said cleanup will start "within a couple of months." The building eventually proposed will incorporate the existing foundation work.
CalPERS could have cut its losses and walked away, but decided to invest more after careful analysis, the fund's officials said.
Sacramento Mayor Heather Fargo welcomed CalPERS' move.
"As a gateway to the city, this site is critical and is a great opportunity to do downtown housing," Fargo said through a spokeswoman. "I'm glad PERS is still interested, and we look forward to working with them."
CalPERS declined to disclose what it is paying to take over the project. Ted Eliopoulos, the fund's senior investment officer, said in a prepared statement that CIM will "resolve issues" with outstanding creditors, finish the first phase of site preparation and come up with an alternate project in about 18 months.
Joseph Mohamed Sr., a Sacramento investor who owns a $22 million mortgage on the Towers construction site, said Thursday he has not been in contact with CalPERS or CIM.
"I haven't heard anything from them. I would assume when they're ready they will buy me out," he said.
Mohamed was among those who bought a residential unit in the project.
One competitor said Towers' failure already has boosted his project.
"We actually got 16 calls today to reserve units from people who lost their deals," Aura condo developer Nassi said in an e-mail.
Nassi did not answer questions about when his project would break ground. Aura reportedly has stalled over construction financing problems.
Sacramento Assistant City Manager John Dangberg said the hotel money earmarked for the Towers would be "reallocated to other projects," particularly those on J,K and L streets.
"If CIM brings (its) project forward and can prove that there's a financial gap, we would consider it," Dangberg said. "That's another discussion for another day."
In a letter to Towers buyers, Saca vowed to continue his push.
Following a "Dear Fellow Visionaries" salutation, he wrote: "I have not and will not abandon my vision or efforts to build a high rise in Downtown Sacramento. ... I give my commitment that very soon I will present to you another high rise project that will make our shared dream ... into a reality."
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