PwC Keith

Any heard any updates on Catalyst's refinancing? The 60 day extension is up in 30 days, but I believe they'll use their second 60 day extension.

Anyone heard any updates on the refinancing of Catalyst? I think they have until the end of February to announce another (and last) 2 month extension. I'm wondering if Wachovia will decide not to let them refinance and force Novare to stay with the condo idea, but slash prices like some of the articles provided above, to sell the building.

I was wondering if anyone knew what the current sales figures are for the Vue (i.e. % of units sold). Just curious if they are going to have situation similar to the Catalyst once they are completed.

I too was under the impression that all of their projects were financed internally, but I do know they have this loan with Wachovia for some reason. As for the earnest money I think they fully intend to refund it, but don't want to do that until a final decision is made. I was just making the point they aren't taking their time just to earn $30 of interest on each deposit.

If they are holding onto people's money to earn interest, then I am very concerned about the chances of actually getting it back. I put down $7k and at most they may be earning 5% (which would earn them $30/month) or $2100 a month on the 70 contracts that have been signed. From my discussions with Catalyst people, the real holdup is Wachovia (their primary lender) who is dragging their feet on approving Novare's request to change the project to rentals. Novare wants to move forward as fast as possible, but with all the uncertainty within and surrounding Wachovia they aren't really too focused on Novare's request (especially considering the size of the loan involved). With that said I do expect Novare to leverage the 60 day extensions in their contracts and expect a decision sometime in late January and early February. By then Novare would have earned almost $6000 ($4000 after taxes) in interest on our deposits. Punks.

I was in the sales center about a week or two ago and they were at 72 units sold (which has been the number for about the past month). As one of the 72 buyers, I very interested to know what they plan to do with the project as well as the park and baseball stadium.

I'm a happy buyer into the Catalyst and hope that the project continues to progress as planned. Nonetheless, I apologize if this has been stated, but are there any 'confirmed' business tenants (i.e. restaurants, bars, etc.). Theres been lots of talk about wants, but I'm curious to know what is known. As always thanks for the info. I love the thread.

Thats not good since two weeks ago the number was at 62. I'm not sure what would cause the sales to spike at this point.

Anyone heard an update of how many units have been sold? I'm wondering how sales were impacted by the Wachovia layoffs and uncertainty.

I actually am one of the 12% so far and in talking to the sales reps they are actually ahead of their target at this point. I was actually surprised myself when they said that, but I guess June/July are typically the slowest months for real estate. The only number I am focused on at the moment is 150 by a certain date (I believe March 1), because according to my contract that is the number of units they must sell to lock in the project as condos versus changing to another plan (i.e. apartments). If they sell less than 150 by March 1 they have the option to return my deposit and take the building in another direction. Knowing Novare and their business I doubt they want that situation to arise any more than I do.

Thanks for the response. My opinion changes daily. I actually called the company and talked to their representative fully aware that he is a salesman and while the cost does seem a bit high, he explained where the costs were driven from and most of them relate to electronics being installed (excluding the speakers themselves) that are being installed to run the speakers. I know for sure that I too am going to buy the wiring in the bedroom and bathroom, because I think it will be impossible to get it done properly otherwise and I change my mind daily (if not hourly) on getting the rest of the speakers in the living and IPOD station (mostly because I can just roll it into the mortgage and I'd like to have it when I move in). Nonetheless, thanks for your opinion. I chose to be on Floor 17 on the MLK side. I can't wait to see the view and as well as the park once things are finished. Sales seem to be doing well, so hopefully that continues. Best of luck and I'm sure will get to meet at sometime in the near future.

Congrats to everyone who has bought into Catalyst already. I too recently bought a 1 BR unit and am really excited. There aren't a whole lot of choices for upgrade options, but one of them relates to the sound system in the unit. The provider is DirecPath and while their product looks good the price seems a bit high. Has anyone has a chance to check prices elsewhere or is their cost reasonable? Summary of one package I was looking at: $5280 - includes 5 in-wall Jamo speakers for surround sound in living room, 2 speakers in the bedroom, and 1 speaker in the bathroom and an IPOD docking station that links to speakers. Any help would be appreciated.

If the sales center opens June 21st how long will it be until they start taking sales? The Sales Center was open for a few months before they did the lottery for sales. I would think they'd want to show off some of the options before starting to take deposits, but thats just my thoughts.

Nice pictures Grodney. I noticed that the foundation for the balconies on the lower levels seem larger than the higher levels. Is this intentional or will they make adjustments later. At the avenue all the units seem to the have the same balcony size regardless of floor.

I noticed when I was walking Uptown on Saturday that the Catalyst sales office has been wallpapered up, which I assume to mean that they are preparing the model. Anyone have any idea when they might finish the sales office?

I agree that is an amazing set of pictures. I'm also very impressed with the details for the park. Good work.

First great renderings. They look awesome. Typically, I only the read the forum on here and ask questions, but this time it looks like I might be able to add some information. In Friday's CBJ about the condo market it looked like there were two big updates to this project. 1) It looks like the expected completion date moved from Winter 2009 to Spring 2009, so probably a push back of 3 months or so. 2) which I consider to be more interesting is that units won't be sold until the project is nearing completion. So in my eyes that probably means that units won't go on sale until at least Nov, when I previously was thinking possibly sometime in the March timeframe. That will definitely take a lot of speculators out of this project and also allow Novare to make sure their inventory of Avenue units is reduced to almost none. Overall, I'm still very excited about this project and find myself looking at the webcam at least twice a day to see how much progress is being made.

The better question is will the top units be able to see the field from their units?

Thanks Nible. Your response was pretty close to my guesses. As I was thinking about the parking deck more it dawned on me that this parking deck will be different than any other in uptown in that its not under or directly beside the actual condo, so I was wondering if anyone knew whether Novare might build an underground tunnel to connect the buildings and parking deck. I hope the center of the complex isn't under a tarp because that would ruin the view from people's balconies. Any thoughts? My vote is nothing or underground tunnel.

Can anyone provide help with my question? Thanks in advance. Love reading the dialogue on here.

Awesome pictures everyone. I am truly amazed at the speed this project is going up. It looks like Novare should have Catalyst finished in time for Winter 2009 (which I assume to mean Jan/Feb 2009), but I'm wondering when they are going to start on the parking deck. I would think they'd have to finish that prior to letting residents move in. My two questions are these 1) How long does a parking deck (of 8 to 9 stories) take to build? 2) Am I correct in assuming Winter 2009 means January/February and not Nov/Dec?

Yep thats definitely Trademark. Anyone have any updates on the Catalyst sales center? I know Novare's lease on their other sales center is up on Dec. 1, but I haven't been by their new place at 222 Church to see how the progress is going.

Great photo Mobuchu. Thats one of the best I've seen so far. I was talking to friend the other day and he was telling me that Novare probably won't use the lottery system to begin sales for Catalyst (which he said he also heard would be expected in late February/early March which is when all the Avenue units will be closed). My question to those who are familiar with Novare is what other processes have they used for sales (especially at the beginning). The only thing I can think of other than the lottery system is just having people line up like for concert tickets. Thank you in advance for your thoughts.

First I'd like to thank everyone who has been posting update pictures on the site. They look great and since I don't get Uptown everyday it is awesome seeing the progress beign made. I have a few questions though. Question 1: For those that don't know they recently updated the website and it has a little more than just the registration page (a little more info and one new link), but on that page it says that they expect completion by Spring '09. This is different than all the other published dates of Winter '09. I personally think it seems unreasonable for them to complete the garage and a 27 story building in a little over a year. Anyone have any idea which date is accurate or more reasonable? Question 2: From one of the other posts it looks like they have determined the sales center location, but does anyone know when they might open that sales center? My guess is that it won't open til the Avenue units are closed, but thats just a guess. Again thanks for everyone's posts and I look forward to any help from anyone on my questions.

It seems like 300 S. Tryon is pushing back there pre-sales. Anyone heard whether Catalyst pre-sales will be pushed back further than the expected Jan/Feb timeframe?