Orlando developer Steve Walsh and his company, Broad Street Partners, were involved in some
strange land deals. Broad Street's investors long questioned the firm's allocation of their capital, and Walsh's
June suicide at his Winter Park home only confirmed their suspicions. According to the Orlando Sentinel,
"Walsh would shift money without authorization from a partnership account set up for a specific development... and move it to his own business account, where he spent it." Records show Walsh's bills exceed $250 million, but his estate's value is only $6 million...not good news for Wachovia, various municipalities and former investors who have all filed lawsuits against the estate. They shouldn't get their hopes up. Charles Stark, the attorney for Walsh's estate, says the IRS will likely take most of it.
Some Florida developers offer golf memberships, interior upgrades, or maybe even a free golf cart, but buyers of the last 7 units in one South Beach project will receive a Lamborghini Spyder Gallardo (pictured) valued at $260,000. While the broker spins the promotion as just a natural fit between luxury condo and luxury car, Peter Zalewski of Condo Vultures points out a more credible rationale: it's
"a way to shield comparables from discounting, which would drive down prices for prior and current buyers." At $260,000, the 2008 Lamborghini is priced about 30% higher than the median existing home price in the U.S. A quick search of Trulia shows that $260,000 will buy a whole lot of house in Florida cities like
Tallahassee,
Melbourne and
Jacksonville.
After two years of searching for funding, Trump Tower Tampa developer SimDag paid Indiana-based
Providence Funding Inc. $150,000 in hopes Providence ("Your Faith-Based Source in Commercial Lending") would secure a $200 million loan for their project. It turns out Providence, according to the St. Pete Times, is led by "an ex-convict named
Barney Canada (who) spent three years in federal prison in the early 1990s for stealing millions of dollars procuring phony loans for businesses just like SimDag." SimDag's creditors met in a Tampa courtroom in July seeking loan repayments of almost $40 million. Now SimDag has filed civil theft charges against Father Barney for
"withholding information about his criminal past during negotiations earlier this year."
Orlando developer Steve Walsh and his company, Broad Street Partners, were involved in some strange land deals. Broad Street's investors long questioned the firm's allocation of their capital, and Walsh's June suicide at his Winter Park home only confirmed their suspicions. According to the Orlando Sentinel, "Walsh would shift money without authorization from a partnership account set up for a specific development... and move it to his own business account, where he spent it." Records show Walsh's bills exceed $250 million, but his estate's value is only $6 million...not good news for Wachovia, various municipalities and former investors who have all filed lawsuits against the estate. They shouldn't get their hopes up. Charles Stark, the attorney for Walsh's estate, says the IRS will likely take most of it. 
Some Florida developers offer golf memberships, interior upgrades, or maybe even a free golf cart, but buyers of the last 7 units in one South Beach project will receive a Lamborghini Spyder Gallardo (pictured) valued at $260,000. While the broker spins the promotion as just a natural fit between luxury condo and luxury car, Peter Zalewski of Condo Vultures points out a more credible rationale: it's "a way to shield comparables from discounting, which would drive down prices for prior and current buyers." At $260,000, the 2008 Lamborghini is priced about 30% higher than the median existing home price in the U.S. A quick search of Trulia shows that $260,000 will buy a whole lot of house in Florida cities like Tallahassee, Melbourne and Jacksonville. 
After two years of searching for funding, Trump Tower Tampa developer SimDag paid Indiana-based Providence Funding Inc. $150,000 in hopes Providence ("Your Faith-Based Source in Commercial Lending") would secure a $200 million loan for their project. It turns out Providence, according to the St. Pete Times, is led by "an ex-convict named Barney Canada (who) spent three years in federal prison in the early 1990s for stealing millions of dollars procuring phony loans for businesses just like SimDag." SimDag's creditors met in a Tampa courtroom in July seeking loan repayments of almost $40 million. Now SimDag has filed civil theft charges against Father Barney for "withholding information about his criminal past during negotiations earlier this year."
0 comments:
Post a Comment