Wednesday, October 03, 2007

Not every dog barks like Ramsey Town Center barks.

Today's Strib online has an article on condo woes in Minneapolis. While a general refelction on the housing market, Susan Feyder's article had one pair of paragraphs that really was an attention getter:

Minnwest Bank M.V. is in the midst of foreclosing on one completed and another proposed condo project.

The Minnesota bank recently was the high bidder at a sheriff's sale of Mill Trace Condominiums, a 50-unit project at 619 SE. 8th St. that was developed by Niles Schulz of Dolphin Development. Russ Bushman, chief credit officer for the bank, said the developers have until March 2008 to redeem the property.


Wow. They foreclosed, AND bid this one. They have treated the Ramsey Town Center situation as toxic waste. Buy it by bidding at your own foreclosure sale, you own it and you owe the assessments - or are on the hook. That's the key reason I see as possibly underlying the perpetual Minnwest-TC pattern - schedule a sale, back out, etc., etc., at least three times with a fourth scheduled sale for this month - Oct. 12, 10 am, Anoka County Courthouse is my recollection. Bets -- will they or won't they again? That Mill Trace project must be less a dog than Nedegaard and the award-winning architects left us in Ramsey.

Them and our town "leaders." A legacy. For Steffen of Met Council and the other poohbahs in city government and other positions who happily were key people at the fall 2003 TC groundbreaking.

Some of the other Strib-reported condo shenanigans are interesting. Success has a dozen parents. Failure a dozen lawsuits. Sometimes. For now, I guess we are short of a dozen for Town Center. There's Heisel pleading guilty to a federal crime and the City litigating with Minnwest [buyer of the Mill Trace Condominiums in their foreclosure there, and presumably the same Minnwest foreclosing Town Center with the same Russ Bushman as spokesperson]. That Heisel-related thing's still an ongoing investigation, or appears so from the outside. There was Commerce Dept. closure of Powerhouse Title. And again - there is the City of Ramsey litigating against Minnwest about Master Development Agreement priority matters. There is the mystery of the Swiss bank accounts. And there is more weed growth than crabgrass in those vast town center open spaces these days. Where is James Norman these days? China?