SKYE Condominiums and Hyatt Place Hotel

[jordan704]

Hyatt Place sign is up...

 

[Norm2]

Hyatt Place sign is up...

 

For some reason this picture makes that building look butt ugly. I know the building isn't particularly attractive, but I never thought of it as ugly before.

[ScottCLT]

Hyatt Place sign is up...

 

I would have thought that the sign would be bigger, like at Hyatt House, where it stretches several stories vertically. Oh well, just glad there is more hotel space uptown coming soon!

[15895]

I love the way the building Looks. Yes it's ugly, but it's unique. I think it fits in nice.

Now the back of Trademark. To me, that is ugly. The main reason being is that it seems lazy, an afterthought, a burden to have to design the back.

[nonillogical]

I love the way the building Looks. Yes it's ugly, but it's unique. I think it fits in nice.

Now the back of Trademark. To me, that is ugly. The main reason being is that it seems lazy, an afterthought, a burden to have to design the back.

I never understood the seemingly common complaint about the backside of Trademark. I like it almost as much as the front. Unless you're referring to the bottom 7 floors which are blank wall of the parking deck, but that was purposeful and will be covered up by new development soon enough. 

[ah59396]

Hyatt Place sign is up...

 

 

 

It looks like a skyscraper of the future...in that it was put together with module pieces like that giant one they are going to build in Changsha, China.

[MilZ]

I would have thought that the sign would be bigger, like at Hyatt House, where it stretches several stories vertically. Oh well, just glad there is more hotel space uptown coming soon!

Agreed, to me it almost looks as if "Hyatt Place" is a restaurant or retail at the base of the tower.

 

Edit: At a second glance, it seems it would look bigger in person at ground level than the picture makes it appear.

[Scoopbth]

Thy have now put up a vertical sign as well.

[kermit]

They were loading food into the hotel today.....

[ScottCLT]

It's actually open, as of October 9th. And booked 100% this week! I had customers coming into town and had no luck scoring a room for them there.

[New Name]

Yeah I was over that way this weekend and definitely noticed people checking in/out. I had no idea the "front" of the hotel is not on Caldwell - it's in the trench (for lack of a better word) between the building and the giant horrible parking lot behind it. I think you can exit the hotel on foot through to Caldwell - as I watched a couple do that, turn and stare down the sidewalks and then go back inside. 

[Miesian Corners]

Didn't the owners of the Hyatt buy the land behind the building (Brevard frontage) for "future development"?

[kermit]

Didn't the owners of the Hyatt buy the land behind the building (Brevard frontage) for "future development"?

 

I had not head that. The only land purchase I remember was for a loading space on the allyway / Brevard side.

 

The Observer reports on the hotel opening and mentions that the condos are "half sold"

 

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/10/15/4390209/new-hyatt-hotel-opens-in-skye.html#.Ul2cNpxzqc0

[diesel]

What that article did not mention is that a number of those sales may not go through at all.  The project was not able to get Fannie Mae financing and purchasers have not been able to get mortgages. So far no condos have closed.

[Niner National]

Why weren't they able to get financing from Fannie Mae?

 

When I bought my condo, I wasn't able to get a Fannie Mae loan, but only because the developer forgot to re-apply for qualification. I could have gotten it, I just would have had to wait 3-6 months for it to be re-approved.

[diesel]

I was told it was because the building has too much commercial space versus condos. There is a ratio that cant be past a certain level and they are over it.

[ES Charlotte]

I was told it was because the building has too much commercial space versus condos. There is a ratio that cant be past a certain level and they are over it.

Yeah, that's incorrect on both accounts...

1. They haven't closed bc they don't have a CO for the condos

2. They are still working towards Fannie Mae approval (which is 5% down) and already have several other options in place that include 10%, 15% and 20% down which is reasonable.

Closings are going to start very soon and I'm confident you'll see most of them close.

PS. I don't work for the developer, but I do know whats going on due to a close contact.

[diesel]

The conditions, rates and costs of those loans are nothing like the Fannie Mae loans and the broker who was doing all the Fannie Mae paperwork told a client that they have all but given up on Fannie Mae because the rules changed in July regarding the ratios and the place no longer will qualify. 

[ES Charlotte]

There's more than one company involved and I can't get into the details...

Bottom line... I think we're going to see a good portion of the condos close.

[zaxcom]

As someone who is in contract to buy at Skye I can tell you that the Fannie Mae loans are dead. They are no longer working to get them and we have been told by the developer and his broker to look for alternative financing.  Yes there are other loans in place, but they have very high fees and rates that are substantially above the market.  I know of 2 buyers who are considering dropping out. 

[notcreative00]

Why not get a 7/1 ARM with NCBT? With rates still low it should be in the 3% range. I had a client do this at the Garrison after Patten took over. They had less than 50% sold at the time so they couldn't get Fannie approval. The break even point on an ARM even if it adjusts up is around 12 years compared to a traditional 30 year fixed. 

[zaxcom]

I contacted NCBT and they no longer write these loans.

[dubone]

Didn't the owners of the Hyatt buy the land behind the building (Brevard frontage) for "future development"?

 

Verna is the one that bought/tried to buy the land at Brevard.  That is what sunk The Park, as they illegally used the Park deposits to do that.  

 

 

 

As for financing problems, this is a bit scary that after all this time banks are still unable to find value in giving loans to creditworthy individuals simply because part of a building is a hotel.   It does not make sense to me that why the finance industry will finance the building of the projects but not the people to buy and live in those residences.

[atlrvr]

^  This issue here seems to be with Fannie Mae, who's policies are effectively set by politicians.  Very few private lenders are aggressive in the sub $417k loan department, because they can't effectively compete with Fannie Mae who is buying 95% of all loans.  Bank loans tend to target the jumbo > $417k space that Fannie won't buy. 

 

There is lots of reasons that doing commercial/condo mixed use is riskier for the lender, but instead of just charging a slightly higher rate, that ban them outright. 

 

One way to think about this is politicians are discouraging urbanization by making simple policies for things they don't want to spend the time understanding. 

[nowensone]

This building still has an incomplete feel to it, the Caldwell St stairway exit is still not sealed in around the doorway, and construction ongoing in the stairwell.  More importantly, things look and feel... odd.  The elevator ride to the top scared me a bit as well, cant put my finger on why, just didn't feel safe.