Friday, February 15, 2013

Bankrupt bank sells Moonlight Lofts at $5.3 million loss

San Diego Daily Transcript:
The Lofts at Moonlight Beach, the recently completed residential/retail condominium at 90 N. Coast Highway 101 in Encinitas 92024, has been sold for $14.7 million.

The transaction consisted of $10.6 million for 15 of 17 residential units financed with a loan of $7.42 million from California Bank & Trust, and $4.1 million for the 15 retail units financed with a loan of $2,665,000, also from California Bank & Trust.

[...]

The complex was constructed by The Lofts at Moonlight Beach LLC, with Distinctive Projects Company Inc. as manager. Richard Lee Sax was president of Distinctive Projects. The condo was built with an October 2007, $20 million construction loan from Vineyard Bank. California Bank & Trust is the receiver for Vineyard.
Two of the project units on the back side of the alley sold in 2011 and 2012, at about $460 per square foot and carrying HOA dues of $490 and $535 per month.

Vineyard Bank was taken over by the FDIC in 2009.

21 comments:

  1. Partof the Stocks/Bond/Dalager legacy. Destroy the Artists Colony and put these tacky condos in instead at grossly over stated prices. You can't even see Moonlight from the majority of them and that was the selling feature. The next flop will be the atrosity downtown.

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    1. It was not that long ago - just last year, in fact - that Stocks pointed to the Lofts as a great example of what he thought we could use more of in Encinitas.

      No matter that he's out now, as the current CC may be similarly-leaning....

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  2. The builder can thank Captain Keno for NOT selling his property to him when he offered Jerry $8.3 million to build more "lofts" one block north. So can we.

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  3. The sad part is the banks are owned by the Government. Remember banks don't fail now-a-days. The feds just assume all their risk. Which means the tax payer ends up paying for all the crappy developers decisions. You all are paying for the lofts. The sadest point is your kids will be paying for them big time and they will not have the opportunities that we had because all of us old geezers will work until we die. We can't afford not to.

    The kids of today are getting so screwed. It will be an amazing story some day, on how a generation could impose such hardships on its own offspring.

    Sad But True.

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  4. A steal!! That land and the construction will cost more than what he paid. Not to mention with the Right to vote nonsense that project would never be built today. It would still be a Artists colony. I went there several times, nothing of interest nor value.

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  5. I had a friend who rented there for a year about 3 or 4 years ago. The place was honestly very nice, and the rooftop decks were gorgeous! I would have slept up there if I lived there (only a slight exaggeration). From what I recall, it was around $3200-3500 a month for a pretty large 2-bedroom. As for the that high HOA fee… I have no idea.
    (Caveat: I've only lived in Cardiff for about 3 years, so I don't know what the area was before it was built)

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    1. It was a shithole.

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    2. LOL. It was a charming hacienda style motel originally probably built in the 20's with stuccoed archway walls, red tile roofs, great trees and very large garden/yard areas. It had fallen into disrepair naturally as the buyer had no interest in sprucing it up and keeping it that way (unlike the Marvin's outstanding A workplace is often disheveled as parts of the Artist's Colony were with many projects in progress. In the eyes of a developer who wants the biggest bang for their buck, a "peaceful easy feelin" place aint gonna cut it. But it looks like builder's lofty ideas of making money on the place didn't cut it either, huh?. It's always the hand me down guy that makes money then - not unlike Mr. Miller's redevelopment resort in south Lake Tahoe that went bankrupt and sold for pennies on the dollar to the next guy. I'm sure the quality of condos at the Lofts is very nice. The architecture is not bad and could be much worse, but I wish it had made more of an iconic statement like "OK world, here were are at the entrance to Moonlight Beach!" instead of something from cookie cutter drawer 5 in Temecula. Something more like that bitchen nautical style house in Cardiff next to Glen Park; utilizing local cobblestones in their design - or even something reminiscent of Noah's Ark restaurant from 60 years ago and 2 miles away. But anything that creative is usually TOO funky for both local developers and Planning Commissions these days. Ah, but my opinion half the time is but one squeaky wheel on a long train drowned out by hundreds well oiled. Otherwise, Streetscape sidewalks would be made only of yellow bricks.

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  6. It's not correct to say "the banks are owned by the Government."

    Read the Reuters article:

    http://www.reuters.com/article/2009/07/18/financial-failures-idUSN1750807420090718

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  7. Believe what you want. I believe the banks are owned by our government.

    Reuters is controlled by the government.

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  8. For Anon Feb 17 6:44

    Reuters is a privately owned international news agency headquartered in London.

    American banks are privately owned. Any bank that's not fly-by-night is a member of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Member banks pay fees to FDIC, which the agency uses to insure deposits up to $250,000 per account.

    When a member bank fails, FDIC temporarily takes it over and, most often, a solvent bank absorbs it. That's what happened when Chase took over Washington Mutual. Deposits were at risk only for the amount they exceeded $250,000.

    Obama was born in Hawaii and is not coming for your guns.

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  9. believe what you want. A fool and their money are soon parted.

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  10. You'll take my gun when you pry it from my cold dead fingers. So it doesn't matter if he's coming for my guns or not.....

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  11. Regarding the Moonlight Lofts and the "atrocity" downtown... I'd rather have a town full of them than one full of the Log Cabins...

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  12. I like the "atrocity" downtown 100 times better than the tin box (Coast Dispatch) it replaced. THAT was a negative eye-sore that did nothing for the commuinty for years and visually never did. I like Pacific Station - for a complex that's pretty maxed out. I like how most of it is tucked away behind the "Small Mall" and old stores. I like all the underground parking they provided. One friend of mine evidently bought three of the units for $450K ea. I think they were asking far more than that in the beginning, but that seems to be the rule on 101 for large developments. I like that Whole Foods is so well liked and used. Bliss 101 has awesome local art. Their passage way with outdoor seating is great. I doubt if many like the loud horns several times a day, but they no doubt like living downtown Encinitas and all it has to offer like the rest of us spoiled people who live so close to the Pacific. Oh yeah, I love the Log Cabins and their owner who I've known for a half century. Fwy 5 took her other property through Eminent Domain when it came through Leucadiain the 60's by the way. Jeanie rules in my book and hope we have her for years to come. I know the cabins have harbored characters, but I doubt if one of them stole a billion dollars from a charity to gamble away at casinos. Movie stars used to stop there on their way to San Diego. And if you want to get an award winning photo, you're better off taking your camera to the Log Cabins, not a sterile Hilton Hotel. Just wish they still had their neon hitch-hiking cowboy sign over the front door! Imagine all the developers drooling over that place. I'd hate to waste all that time Jeanie had to answering her phone to say "no thanks" to their offers.

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    1. Fred,

      I only use the Log Cabins as an example of funky old Leucadia. I meant no offense to Jeanie, and if she has no desire for change, that's her perogative. There is obviously a lot of history there, and I love the eclectic nature of our town. What I fail to understand is why anyone would work actively to prevent new investment and improvement. Why the disparagement of Pacific Station and similar projects? Why oppose the Streetscape project? These projects improve the quality if living, and encourage new people and businesses to come here.

      I'd welcome further explanation of the dynamic in Leucadia, as it obviously pre-dates my time here.

      Thanks,

      Ryan

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    2. Ryan, this "gentrification" will, as it has in so many other places, drive up rents and leases for the small businesses in downtown Encinitas and Leucadia. In turn this drives up prices for the consumers, or drives out awesome, eclectic little businesses who just get by on the current lease / rent rate. Develpoers look to downtown Del Mar strip as an example of what they would like to reproduce here. No thanks. I love the funky small beach town vibe we have here and every concrete and glass overpriced strip center that goes in makes it much more generic, and drives out marginal businesses who thrive here now. I say keep Leucadia funky. Vote no on these developer's wet dream projects.

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  13. In the 90's Sheila and I got on the bandwagon too late to preserve a log cabin on Netune that had belonged to author Zane Gray. His secretary used to take the train to Phoebe St. where it would stop and let her off. Likewise, the log cabin Streeter Blair built on Sanford St. also fell prey to Greystone with no sense of history or place. Both were historic sites in my opinion and would have been great to preserve. Fortunately, the boat houses were rescued in time, and the folks who bought both homes that Charlie Chaplin built are still on Neptune and have been kept nice. But I guess that has to come from witnin a person like Keith Harrison who did an amazing job restoring the buildings where Surfy Surfy and Cafe Ipe are now. Or that couple that moved an 1800's house to Vulcan and restored it instead of making 5 condos. But when you get out of town, out of touch developers building 3 storys on every block, you end up with a very unwelcoming place like parts of Long Beach and all the congestion and crime that goes with it. Wish I could have walked through the Sands trailer park 30 years ago with a video camera. They completely revamped that place with little oatmeal boxes. I'm sure they're all nice inside, but funky trailers can be awesome too. The Marvin's restoration of the Leucadia Beach Inn is a perfect example of someone taking a funky motel from the 20's and restoring it to even better than it's original glory, inside and out.

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  14. It was so sad to see the Phoebe log cabin get removed for gentrification. What is happening on Neptune and on streets like Hygeia, Hymetus and Hermes where there were so many unique and cool houses is truly disheartining to this old school Leucadian. I also recall the flea market that used to be where Seabluff and Pacifica are now. You newbies would never know about the avocado grove, chicken coops or the wild tomatoes that grew on the bluff top at that end of town. As for Jeannie and her log cabins they are both Lecadian treasures in my book.

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  15. Just talked to a lady off Andrew who paid 2 million for her very large new home and it just sold for 1 million.

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