Originally Posted by Nickapedia
The Plaza Tower recently sold. Below is the City Biz Article. they do not disclose the buyers. hopefully it is someone with serious redevelopment plans.
Home / Breaking News / Long-dormant 45-story Plaza Tower sells
Long-dormant 45-story Plaza Tower sells
By: Robin Shannon, Reporter September 5, 2014 0
One of the owners of the 45-story Plaza Tower on Howard Avenue says the building has been sold, adding a new chapter to the history of a property that has sat unused for a dozen years.
CityBusiness file photo
CityBusiness file photo
Bryan Burns, a partner in JSW Plaza Tower LLC, confirmed Thursday that the 1960s-era skyscraper has changed hands for an undisclosed amount. He would not disclose the new owners of the property.
The reported sale comes nearly three years after Burns and other silent partners bought the building at auction for $650,000.
The tower at 1001 Howard Ave. has been vacant since 2002 when tenants began a mass exodus after toxic mold and asbestos were discovered in the building.
Several attempts have been made over the past decade to revitalize the 531-foot tower, which is the third tallest building in the city and the state behind Place St. Charles at 201 St. Charles Ave. and One Shell Square at 701 Poydras St.
When the building was purchased in 2011, Burns and his partners planned to redevelop the 500,000-square-foot property into a mixed-use facility that would house apartments, office space and retail shops. They wanted first to open the building’s eight-story garage to public parking.
In 2013, the group had secured a conditional use permit to reopen the garage to the public, but Burns said the owners decided not to move forward with the proposal and instead redevelop the building all at once.
“Once we decided to proceed with the pre-development work, it didn’t make sense to us to open the garage under conditional use permit,” Burns said.
At the time it was proposed, the garage plan had drawn the opposition of The Domain Cos., the developers behind the neighboring South Market District, a mixed-use project spanning several square blocks. Principals with Domain claimed the 193-space garage at Plaza Tower would negatively impact South Market District, which also includes public garage space. Representatives with The Domain Cos. declined to comment on the recent Plaza Tower sale.
Burns did not say how much pre-development work his group had done to the building, which had been completely stripped down to its shell following a $12 million mold and asbestos remediation project in 2008 by mortgage lending company Plainfield Direct of Greenwich, Conn.
Prior to the 2011 auction sale, the building had been on the market in 2010 for $15.5 million.
When asked why JSW Plaza Tower elected to sell the property, Burns said it has met the group’s investment objectives, and added that he is confident the new owners can revitalize the building.
“There is no doubt in my mind that this building is imminently qualified for redevelopment,” Burns said. “This building will ultimately be one of the finest multi-family driven buildings in the city.”
Burns said the building’s extreme height and location on Howard Avenue — outside of the main stretch of CBD high-rises and near a flurry of new development — makes it a prime redevelopment prospect.
“The unobstructed views are among the best in the entire city,” Burns said.
Plainfield Direct bought the building at a public auction in 2007 after a previous ownership group that included former Baltimore Ravens football player Michael McCrary and New York investor Edward Giannasca defaulted on a $24 million mortgage.
Giannasca, McCrary and other partners launched a $150 million plan in August 2005 to convert the building into 215 luxury condominiums. The developers had originally asked the city to create a special taxing district for their project, Crescent City Residences, to generate $13 million for mold remediation.
Their plan was later scrapped after developers learned that gaining approval would be daunting because much of the city’s property taxes were earmarked for government use.
In 2007, McCrary sued his business associates for $60 million claiming that he was not told about a $12 million insurance payout from damage caused by Hurricane Katrina. In 2008, McCrary won a $33 million judgment that was later reduced to $20 million.
|
Prev
Not that obvious...the Domain Companies, HRI, Drew Brees?
Linear Mode
