PwC Keith
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Posts posted by PwC Keith
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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.
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I thought Novare financed their own projects internally??? Yikes. Also, that stinks about your earnest money deposits, what does the contract say about getting them back? I bet you could get them back, as they were not necessary for construction of the building.
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.
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I called in today again. Got the same story, decision is still being made. They reminded me they have a 30 day notification period and that they are also considering the option to extend everyone's contracts out while the decision is made. Theoretically we could be looking another another 150 days for people on the bottom floors who were supposed to move in in January. If they can keep it as a condominium the sooner they move people in the better of course. If they are going to go rental, the longer they hold onto the deposit money the more interest they earn on it.
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.
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Youll need to go into the sales center to get most of the pricing info but units looking over the amenities deck start in the low 180's (possible to get in the high 170's if you use your buyer credit towards hte price of the unit and not on upgrades).
HOA is $0.33 per square foot I believe.
Anyone have an update on how many units they have sold? Last month I went in and they were still in the mid 60's (64 I believe). If they do not start selling more what are the chances they turn this into a rental complex until the market turns around? Or, what are the chances that they discount the units, even though they are pretty low per sq/ft compared to a lot of similar units in uptown?
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.
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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.
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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.
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Anyone heard an update of how many units have been sold? I'm wondering how sales were impacted by the Wachovia layoffs and uncertainty.
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I finally made it over to the Catalyst sales center and came away very impressed. The sales center itself is one of the best I've seen and the Catalyst building will be a wonderful place to live without question. I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of units that were available in the 700 to 800 square foot range that started in the low 200's.
I have a few questions though.
I was told the building has around 60 units sold. They are offering some extremely nice incentives for the first 100 buyers and so far around 60 people have signed contracts. I'm simply wondering if this is a good start? I think they've been taking contracts for almost a month now and have reached around 12% sold. Is this a good number or is it lacking? How does this compare to how the Avenue sold in it's first open month?
When Novarre chose to build before selling I thought it was brilliant. I believed that in light of the way certain projects were going about trying to reach a certain goal before beginning construction that Novarre was on to something. We all knew this process eliminated any questions about the tower being completed. However, given the state of the real estate market this could prove to be very risky. What if sales come to a hault and the building settles around 20% sold?
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.
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I ran into the same thought process. I used the $6k in incentives to put the hardwoods in the living room and kitchen and put the audio package in the bedroom and bath. The audio package I chose was ~$2025. I liked the idea of having flush speakers in the drywall on day 1 in the living area, but I already have purchased the majority of a home audio set and decided to leave the 5 in wall out. I then applied the difference ($2945) to have the place painted, upgrade the hardwoods and I used just over $800 in the inventives. Since the first 100 contracts also got the Whirlpool Washer and dryer as well as the SS fridge I thought that was enough upgrades for now. The Ipod docking station seemed pointless to me since it would have been attached to the wall in the bedroom. Perhaps they can change the location of this but I can buy a $2 cord and plug it into my AV receiver and have the same thing.
Keep in mind that the unit is prewired for the audio no matter what audio package you select. If you decide to put speakers in the future you can shop around and customize your own setup which is what I plan on doing in the living area. Even if $$ were not a concern, I would opt out of the 5.1 setup and customize my own a few pieces at a time. This is coming from someone who could also use the $2945 to get a flat screen and upgrade my AV receiver - I think this would make me much happier on move in but just my 2c.
I also know your question is asking if Jamo is a quality brand. I checked them out at Jamo.com while I was in the sales office and they appear to be quality components and are a Klipsch group company.
What floor and side did you choose? I am on 5th floor, MLK side.
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.
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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.
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My source tells me the the Sales Center is opening up June 21st.
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.
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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.
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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?
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I don't remember this file ever being posted on here, but here's todays find...
http://www.trinity-partners.com/admin-syst...%2011.28.07.pdf
It's for the leasing of 440 S. Church Office tower. There's a few new views in there that I specifically enjoy, especially page 4 that has the three towers and Wachovia's new HQer's incorporated, sized, and located within the uptown isometric shot...
This file should answer a lot of the questions about where the buildings are located, their sq footage, office space floorplans, etc...
I agree that is an amazing set of pictures. I'm also very impressed with the details for the park. Good work.
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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.
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Using a photo from the webcam today, I did a quick extrapolation of the final height of Catalyst. It's clear that it will be visible from inside BofA Stadium when the Panthers begin play this summer.
The better question is will the top units be able to see the field from their units?
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2nd question first, Winter 09 does indeed mean January, February.
1st question second, We honestly won't know the answer to this question until they start construction, because as the saying goes, there is more than one way to skin a cat. Some Parking decks are Prefab, like the ones at met midtown, which makes the construction much faster, but much less good looking. However this is novare, who builds with some sort of quality in mind, so I'm thinking it will be poured in place. This process is much slower, but novare seems to have its act together, so I'm going to say it will be 2-3 weeks per floor, at the most.
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.
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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?
Can anyone provide help with my question? Thanks in advance. Love reading the dialogue on here.
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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?
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Is that trademark on the left. Because it looks great from his angle.
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.
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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.
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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.
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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?
3rd Ward Midrise Projects
in Charlotte
Posted
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.