Duped by Verdae

I do not live there anymore. It's easy to say "If he is so unhappy maybe he should move out," but the reality is that I invested a lot of money on promises that weren't kept. Rick Sumerel has no integrity and made and broke promises on numerous occasions. That's basically the same as lying since I don't think he had any intention of keeping those promises. I did sell and at a 6 figure loss. It is definitely not turning out to be what it was originally billed as, and it is not TND. As far as a 25-30 year build out, I doubt it. They are going to fill those lots as quickly and expediently as they can as long as someone is paying money (for example, the typical, garden style apartments that were not in the original plan). It had a lot of potential to be something special. No doubt it will still be very popular and there will eventually be retail, etc. By the way, the old dogma that residential has to come before retail is not applicable to this infill development that is surrounded by residential areas. Retail here would attract residents from all of the surrounding areas like Parkins Mill, Gower, etc.

Rick Sumerel = stupid

You hit the nail on the head.

Even the city said their plans weren't up to TND standards. You probably understand why I am a critic of them but I'm not sure why you are such an apologist for them. They tweaked their plans to the minimum so that the city would have to accept them begrudgingly. That doesn't mean the city is happy about it or that they feel Verdae Development is living up to their original master plan. Notice in the Belhaven subdivision there is much less connectivity. They got rid of alleys too. It's not TND in reality or in spirit.

Well, I would argue that the way Hollingsworth Park is being built out is not TND and that many of the design elements are not TND as well. It's not really an argument; it's fact. The Town Paper (before it became Better! Cities & Towns) declined to include Verdae on its list of TND communities at the outset because of the compartmentalized nature of the development (separate manor section, Cascades partitioned off, etc.). The architectural guidelines have been so watered down as to be laughable. You all say it's no big deal. To you it's not. You did not invest money. You were not lied to. Integrity doesn't seem to matter to you. Yes, it's getting built out. I wouldn't call it TND though. I would call it an imitation of TND. They should just drop the whole TND pretense.

So…you wouldn't have happened to be looking at the CURRENT "master" plan that is on the website? Because you know they would NEVER change the MASTER plan, would they? They wouldn't add garden style apartments (and try to add gates), would they? Or town homes where none were originally planned? Or change the area across Rocky Slope from Ruskin Square? Or bring in Ryan Homes (after denying they would)? Wow, are you a shill or something? Despite multitudes of evidence to the contrary, you continue to give Rick Sumeral and Verdae Development the benefit of the doubt. I don't know if this image will embed, but keep in mind this is a "master" plan from AFTER the town homes but before all of the other changes. I couldn't find one from earlier. http://www.urbanplanet.org/forums/index.php/gallery/?module=images&section=img_ctrl&img=3291&file=max

Don't ASSUME anything about this development. It WAS supposed to be a natural buffer according to the "master" plan. When all is said and done, it will still be a great place to live based on the location. It will have SOME TND elements. Hopefully there will be some restaurants, etc. However, it will not be what was sold to me or to many of the other early adopters who invested money into building their homes on broken promises.

Posted the link to the Better! Cities & Towns article earlier in this thread, but here it is again: https://workspaces.acrobat.com/app.html#d=jg3M*di2bHO5A8V7jWs9MQ

Looked into legal counsel years ago when Rick Sumeral/Verdae first started changing things. The first change was the "Homes from the $200s" on Shadwell. He promised that the watering down of the architectural guidelines would be limited to Shadwell. I knew he was lying and of course they changed the standards and the changes have migrated into Ruskin Square. It's been one long continuous slippery slope ever since. I don't believe a word he says. It's frustrating trying to deal with someone who has no moral or ethical standards. He is a very paternalistic man who thinks he is always right. Legal counsel would be very expensive. In the beginning there were only a handful of owners and we felt the cost would be prohibitive. We tried meeting with the board of Verdae and Hollingsworth Funds, but they back Rick completely. We tried appealing to Knox White and city council members, but they can't do much, or at least they claim not to be able to do anything. We appealed to the zoning and planning boards but they can't do anything either. We have been trying to get some exposure with our website, http://www.hollingsworthpark.com. I've personally spoken with Tom Low of DPZ-Charlotte and Brad Wyche with Upstate Forever. We get sympathy but not much action. I reached out to the former "The Town Paper," a publication highlighting TND neighborhoods throughout the country. They are now "Better! Cities & Towns." They wrote an article highlighting our plight. Unfortunately, there are too many rah rah sheep who are not sweating the details of this development and giving blind accolades to Verdae, unlike those of us who have invested a lot of money into a promise that has been broken.

Not a rumor. That's what we the owners were told by Verdae at a meeting they had for us on April 30th. I guess they wanted to shove the knife into us from the front and not the back.

Connected? Are you not listening to anything I have said on here? Rick Sumeral does not care about connectivity. That plot of land is going to be sold to Ryan Homes and will probably be a typical cookie cutter subdivision with one road in and out with lots of cul de sacs and ugly houses. You can see from the outline that it will probably have one main road in and out of the "subdivision" from Rocky Slope. Part of this area was supposed to be a mirror image of the manor section in the original plans. Of course those plans have long since gone out the window in favor of expediency and making a quick buck. The supposed 20-30 year development of this property was a big lie. Unethical, unethical, unethical.

So interesting to see all the views of outsiders into the project. Many of you don't realize that the president of Verdae, Rick Sumeral, has no real interest in TND or connectivity. His only interest is in maximizing margins and the amount of money this project will funnel into Hollingsworth Funds. TND is just window dressing. I have met with the man personally multiple times. His aim is to keep his job and please the board of Verdae Development and Hollingsworth Funds. The way he does this is by selling lots and continuing to move the project along by whatever means necessary. If that means watering down the original design guidelines and gutting many of the TND tenets, so be it. If that means changing the "master plan" that many of us bought into and bringing a "garden style" apartment complex into the development where single family home were originally meant to go, then he will do it. By the way, the denial of the gates at the apartment complex was due in large part to the current residents meeting with city officials, giving them a presentation, and then voicing our concerns at the zoning meeting to object to the gates. Rick Sumeral was all for the gates. He is Machiavellian in the MOST negative connotation of that word. http://www.hollingsworthpark.com

The fact that they were approved does not mean that the commission members necessarily liked them. It meant that they could not deny them because they basically followed the overall city guidelines. The city guidelines are not specific for New Urbanism nor do they mandate that type of planning although they encourage many elements of it. If you read the critique of the apartments written by the city, they clearly state that the apartments are not in character with the rest of the development. I don't know why you don't seem to get it. I was not able to attend the meeting due to work. However, my wife did attend as did two of our neighbors, a married couple. Our neighborhood is filled with many dynamic people who don't necessarily have the ability to get away from their other commitments to be able to attend meetings. The Langenhans served as our representatives. They are the ones you probably heard if you were there. Getting something approved by the planning commission has much less to do with integrity to original design and details than it does to political forces and adherence to code. Tripp Muldrow, who was chair at the time, seemed disappointed by the direction of the development but said he could not deny the application.

Yes, but it was also announced as being neo-urban, walkable, and TND. See the YouTube clip around 4:55 where you can see Rick Sumerel say this in his own words. And please tell me where you saw that we are against apartments in Hollingsworth Park. It is and always has been about the design and architectural standards. We are not against apartments if incorporated in a TND fashion with good architecture. The architecture for the current project is NOT good. When pressed, Bill Monroe characterized it as "eclectic." Please show me where in historical architecture you can find a similar looking structure. Arlington Properties has a brand name for this type of apartment building calling it the "big house" look. If you look at the city planning website, you can see that the apartment complex is a typical "garden style" pod of development isolated from the remainder of the development. Also, in the "master plan," that location was slated for single family homes. I could go on and on. Instead of commenting on things you don't know about, how about doing a little reading and research. I am a homeowner and have been heavily involved in this struggle with Verdae to live up to their promise of a true TND community. You don't know the half of it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-Ut6DatUIw http://www.greenvillesc.gov/PlanningZoning/PlanningApplications/Applications/2012/FEBRUARY/PlanningCommission/02-9-2012/Z-7-2012-TapestryParkatVerdae-RockySlopeRoadnearWoodruffRoad.pdf https://acrobat.com/app.html#d=jg3M*di2bHO5A8V7jWs9MQ http://www.hollingsworthpark.com/