Friday, May 25, 2007

Saca misses CalPERS buyout deadline

Not surprising given all the buzz recently. I have to imagine another option will be bought and they will keep working it, but a missed deadline is a missed deadline.

The only good news is, everything I have heard says Mohamed and the Saca's are good family friends, so Saca catches a big break there.

"but a real estate investor (Mohamed)who holds the loan for the land purchase said Friday that he has no plans to foreclose on the project."

Nassi and now Saca both keep missing deadlines, we'll see where this all ends up. Over the weekend I drove by the Aura site and they had demolished the remainder of the parking lot. Considering Nassi was just granted another extention, I can't think it's any kind of groundbreaking.

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Saca misses CalPERS buyout deadline
Sacramento Business Journal - 2:06 PM PDT Friday, May 25, 2007

Developer John Saca will not meet Friday's deadline to buy out The California Public Employees' Retirement System's $25 million investment in the Towers on Capitol Mall project, Saca said on Friday.

Saca, the managing partner of the project, had worked out a deal last month to pay back CalPERS, which had pledged $100 million overall. The two partners have been at odds on how to proceed under cost overruns that are estimated between $70 and $100 million.

"We're still working on it," Saca said of dissolving the partnership with CalPERS and securing new financing. "We're not going to pull it off today."

CalPERS spokeswoman Pat Macht said there are no provisions to extend the buyout agreement beyond Friday.

"If he doesn't act on his option today and has another idea he wants to come back with, that will be considered," Macht said. Saca likely will have to pay more money for a new option if he pursues one, though Macht declined to discuss any possible terms.

In the meantime, Saca and CalPERS remain estranged partners.

The Towers on Capitol Mall is a 53-story, 800-unit condo development that broke ground last year. Work stopped before the foundation was poured.

Saca indicated earlier this year that the project is $35 million in debt, including a $22 million loan for the land purchase and a owed to contractors who have done site work.

The project has defaulted on that loan, but a real estate investor who holds the loan for the land purchase said Friday that he has no plans to foreclose on the project.

2 comments:

Zwahlen Images said...

Damn... our hometown guy just can't get over the hump. At one time he was only 15 units away from selling half so Deutsche Bank could release the $370 million for construction, and then at the same time his equity partner of CalPERS changed their minds on investing in the Towers. John needs a miracle and someone with deep pockets who is willing to take a chance during the slowing housing market.

GA said...

This may be the last straw. We'll see what CIM and CalPERS come up with. As the article says, I'm sure it'll be a much smaller project if they decide to continue.

http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/198401.html

I've always been more into the street level activity than the height of a building, but this was the one project I really wanted to see the stature