Feds investigate Towne Place development

Business Courier - by Dan Monk , Courier Senior Staff Reporter

Date: Friday, February 4, 2011, 6:00am EST - Last Modified: Thursday, February 3, 2011, 11:44am EST

 

 

The FBI has begun an investigation into some participants in the Kenwood Towne Place development, sources with knowledge of the investigation said.

 

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/print-edition/2011/02/04/feds-investigate-towne-place-development.html

It's jail for Kenwood developer

4:56 PM, Apr. 20, 2011  | 

 

 

A developer of half-finished Kenwood Towne Place will spend time in jail this summer for an unrelated family matter that could further complicate one of the region's most high-profile foreclosure cases.

 

Tim Baird of the development firm Bear Creek Capital will serve 15 consecutive weekends beginning April 29, according to the Hamilton County Sheriff's office. Court documents are sealed, but both Baird and a lawyer for his ex-wife, Suzanne Baird, say he failed to meet financial terms of the pair's 2005 divorce.

 

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20110420/BIZ01/104210337/It-s-jail-Kenwood-developer?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Business

Crane is coming down...

 

http://cincinnati.com/blogs/northeastnotes/2011/05/31/kenwood-crane-coming-down/

^Damn you! Lol. You beat me to it. I was just about to post that.

Bank: Misled by Kenwood Towne Place developer

3:01 PM, Jun. 22, 2011

 

 

The primary Kenwood Towne Place developer failed to disclose mounting financial problems to its lending bank and regularly concocted schemes to pay only those subcontractors most likely to make the troubles public, a new court filing says.

 

 

 

 

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20110622/BIZ01/306220011/Bank-Misled-by-developer?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Business

Tom Neyer Jr. files for personal bankruptcy

Business Courier

Date: Friday, June 24, 2011, 4:20pm EDT

 

Tom Neyer Jr. filed a voluntary petition for bankruptcy liquidation of debts.

Real estate developer Tom Neyer Jr., owner of Neyer Holdings Corp.  Neyer Holdings Corp. has filed a voluntary petition for bankruptcy liquidation of debts, listing $69 million in liabilities and $1.4 million in assets.

 

Liabilities listed by Neyer in the June 23 Chapter 7 petition include a $50 million debt stemming from a personal guarantee to Bank of America  that’s tied to the long-stalled Kenwood Towne Place office and retail project along Interstate 71. Neyer Holdings owns a 12.5 percent stake in the project.

 

.........Among Neyer’s assets are a $900,000 house in Hyde Park and 4,000 bottles of wine valued at $80,000.

 

If Neyer needs to "liquidate" the wine before the bankruptcy, I bet his friends are in for one hell of a party!

 

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2011/06/24/tom-neyer-jr-files-for-personal.html

Judge: Kenwood Towne Place can be sold

2:28 PM, Aug. 10, 2011  | 

Written by

Laura Baverman

[email protected]

 

 

The contentious, 26-month dispute over half-built Kenwood Towne Place may finally be coming to an end.

 

In a 38-page decision handed down by Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Beth Myers on Wednesday, Bank of America was granted the right to foreclose on the retail and office tower in Sycamore Township, and to collect all of the proceeds from a sheriff’s sale.

 

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20110810/BIZ01/308100128/Judge-Kenwood-Towne-Place-can-sold?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

Unless strong and swift court action can be mustered, this will continue to wallow in appeals for a while.

 

A lot of people got shorted. BofA might not even be liquid. It's one broke guy chasing another over a rusted hulk.

 

Nice real estate, though.

With some of the highest price per square foot in the region too. Beats out about 90% of downtown properties right now.

Good, now this thing can move forward!  Hopefully it gets in the hands of someone willing to finish it quickly and make it a useful asset instead of a rusting eyesore!

 

Kenwood Towne Place auction can proceed

Business Courier by Dan Monk, Senior Staff Reporter

Date: Tuesday, April 17, 2012, 10:05am EDT

 

A Hamilton County judge has granted Bank of America’s    Bank of America Latest from The Business Journals Follow this company request to proceed with a foreclosure auction for Kenwood Towne Place, even though contractors are still appealing an August 2011 decision granting a foreclosure judgment.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2012/04/17/kenwood-towne-place-auction-can-proceed.html

I predict that a new owner will finish the building & get the spaces leased as soon as possible. With the high occupancy rates at KTC it makes sense.

I would imagine chunks of the building will need rebuilt after sitting exposed to the elements for a couple years. But I do predict it will be finished and fully occupied. KTC is immensely popular. However, I only go up there if I have no other choice (i.e. going to the Apple Store). The traffic up there is horrendous.

Kenwood Towne Place scheduled for sale July 12

Business Courier by Dan Monk, Senior Staff Reporter

Date: Friday, July 6, 2012, 3:09pm EDT - Last Modified: Friday, July 6, 2012, 3:13pm EDT

 

 

Three years and two and a half months after a 2009 foreclosure filing, Kenwood Towne Place is expected to be sold at a Hamilton County Sheriff’s auction next week.

 

Hamilton County Judge Beth Myers set a July 12 sale date for the mixed-use project, which was described as a $175 million office and retail complex at its 2007 groundbreaking. It has lost considerable value since then. Hamilton County’s Auditor lists the value at $56.4 million.

 

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2012/07/06/kenwood-towne-place-scheduled-for-sale.html

Bank of America buys it for $27 million:

 

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20120712/BIZ/307120075/Bank-America-buys-Kenwood-Towne-Place-27-5-million?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

Didn't they own it before hand? I guess they took a $88 million loss on the deal. I guess they will resale it to a commercial builder.

Hooray!!!!  Mods how about moving this back to the main thread?

 

Work to start again at Kenwood Towne Place

1:42 AM, Jul. 25, 2012

Written by Laura Baverman

 

SYCAMORE TOWNSHIP — After three years, construction is about to resume at half-finished Kenwood Towne Place, one of the region’s premier retail and office locations.

 

Phillips Edison, which lost a $27.25 million bid to buy the troubled Sycamore Township complex at a foreclosure auction two weeks ago, has successfully negotiated to purchase it from lead lender and winning bidder Bank of America.

 

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20120724/BIZ/307250015/Work-start-again-Kenwood-Towne-Place

Great news. I'm as pro city as anyone but I also support this development (just wish it was Ina city & not a township).

 

The majority of Hamilton County is still the urban part of our metro. I'd rather have a semi-suburban/faux urban style development built at Kenwood mall than the $100 million new sprawl-central development off I-75 between Monroe & Springboro.

 

At least this has some vertical elements to it. That's a big deal for its location.

Kenwood Towne Place's steel isn't a problem, but this is

Business Courier by Jon Newberry, Staff Reporter

Date: Thursday, July 26, 2012, 1:54pm EDT

 

You would think restarting a construction project that’s been sitting around idle for three years would present some unusual challenges.

 

But the biggest problem with Kenwood Towne Place is apparently one that’s been lurking there all along – the HVAC systems.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/blog/2012/07/kenwood-towne-places-steel-isnt-a.html

 

 

Kenwood Towne Place workers settle claims

Group drops charges ahead of today's scheduled jury trial

6:30 AM, Aug. 14, 2012 

 

SYCAMORE TOWNSHIP — A group of 15 subcontractors who accused Bank of America of conspiring to defraud them during construction of problem-plagued Kenwood Towne Place has settled claims and dropped the charges.

 

It’s the first major settlement from dozens of lawsuits related to the half-finished building next to popular Kenwood Towne Centre mall.

 

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20120813/BIZ/308130095

Kenwood Towne Place to open in 2014

Business Courier

Date: Wednesday, October 24, 2012, 3:03pm EDT - Last Modified: Wednesday, October 24, 2012, 3:06pm EDT

 

 

Phillips Edison & Co. selected a team from Jones Lang LaSalle’s Cincinnati office to provide leasing services for 240,000 square feet of office space in the Kenwood Towne Place project, Jones Lang LaSalle announced Wednesday.

 

The long-stalled office tower is currently in a redesign phase, and Phillips Edison expects the office space to be ready for occupancy by March 2014, it said.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2012/10/24/kenwood-towne-place-to-open-in-2014.html

Cool.  I hope this thing succeeds.  But I hope it's main draw is businesses from Mason & West Chester that want to be closer to the core but aren't ready for downtown. 

Grand jury indicts Kenwood Towne Place developer Daniels on 25 counts

Business Courier by Jon Newberry, Staff Reporter

Date: Friday, November 16, 2012, 8:44am EST - Last Modified: Friday, November 16, 2012, 9:13am EST

 

A federal grand jury has indicted Kenwood Towne Place developer Matt Daniels on 25 criminal counts of bank fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud and destroying records to impair an official proceeding.

 

A 17-page indictment filed in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati on Thursday stated "Daniels and others known to the grand jury, acting with intent to defraud, knowingly and intentionally conspired to ... participate in a scheme to defraud Bank of America."

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2012/11/16/grand-jury-indicts-kenwood-towne-place.html

Kenwood Towne Place developer enters plea in bank fraud case

Dan Monk

Senior Staff Reporter- Business Courier

 

 

Kenwood Towne Place developer Matt Daniels pleaded not guilty to bank fraud charges Thursday and was released on his own recognizance by U.S. Magistrate Stephanie Bowman.

 

Daniels was indicted in November on 25 counts of bank fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud and destroying records. He calmly answered “not guilty” when asked for his plea and declined to comment after the arraignment.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2013/01/10/kenwood-towne-place-developer-enters.html

Cool.  I hope this thing succeeds.  But I hope it's main draw is businesses from Mason & West Chester that want to be closer to the core but aren't ready for downtown.

 

Dream on, why would any successful business want to align themelves with this debacle? It is going to take more then some court orders for people to gain any recognition they want to be associated with this place.  It is a blight which will remain a blight for some time to come.

^ What an incredibly negative attitude.  That's EXACTLY what people were saying about the Banks in 2008.  Then construction began in full form in 2008/2009 and they still said, never gonna happen.

 

I will put $100 that within 1 year there is construction activity at Kenwood Towne Place and there are no more court issues blocking it.

^ What an incredibly negative attitude.  That's EXACTLY what people were saying about the Banks in 2008.  Then construction began in full form in 2008/2009 and they still said, never gonna happen.

 

Don't mind kjbrill. I lurk over at city-data and all he does is post negative, anti-urban crap. He is one of the most negative personalities I have come across online.

Kenwood Towne Place subcontractors fighting to get paid

Staff

Business Courier

 

The subcontractors who worked on the half-finished Kenwood Towne Place project along Interstate 71 will have their day in court against the developer and other affiliated parties four years after work stopped on the project, wcpo.com reported.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/morning_call/2013/01/kenwood-towne-place-subcontractors.html

Cool.  I hope this thing succeeds.  But I hope it's main draw is businesses from Mason & West Chester that want to be closer to the core but aren't ready for downtown.

 

Dream on, why would any successful business want to align themelves with this debacle? It is going to take more then some court orders for people to gain any recognition they want to be associated with this place.  It is a blight which will remain a blight for some time to come.

 

Five years from now, no one will even remember the whole debacle. It'll just look like any other suburban office tower.

Cool.  I hope this thing succeeds.  But I hope it's main draw is businesses from Mason & West Chester that want to be closer to the core but aren't ready for downtown.

 

Dream on, why would any successful business want to align themelves with this debacle? It is going to take more then some court orders for people to gain any recognition they want to be associated with this place.  It is a blight which will remain a blight for some time to come.

 

Five years from now, no one will even remember the whole debacle. It'll just look like any other suburban office tower.

 

Except it will probably have a bunch of retail on the first floor or two, and I could imagine it being some really high-end boutique retail.  I say that puts it a step or two ahead of most of the fairly depressing suburban office towers.

^^ You mean like the ones right across the road on I-71?

 

This place was ill-conceived from the beginning and I have seen nothing to indicate it will come out like a rose.

^^ You mean like the ones right across the road on I-71?

 

This place was ill-conceived from the beginning and I have seen nothing to indicate it will come out like a rose.

 

The project was mismanaged from conception, and then ended up even worse because of the economy, but the idea itself is fine and similar projects have worked consistently in most other cities.  Looking at forecasts, retailers are poised to spend lots of money expanding in 2013 and Kenwood is the heart of shopping in the region.  The retail potential alone will probably make this building break-even for new owners.  Basically, the project will be fine once the white collar criminals who were running it originally are gone and forgotten.

"Dream on, why would any successful business want to align themelves with this debacle?"

 

- Most Suburbanites about the Banks, 2007

"Dream on, why would any successful business want to align themelves with this debacle?"

 

- Most Suburbanites about the Banks, 2007

 

You want to equate Kenwood Towne Place in the same breath with The Banks? Talk about apples and oranges, a downtown riverbank urban entertainment/residential development versus a suburban addon to a already slipping shopping mall. They really have a lot in common.

 

The only reason Kenwood Towne Center hangs on as well as it does is there is no alternative. Downtown Cincinnati has what two places Macy's and Saks. Ask two dozen people to name another retail shopping destination in Cincinnati and you will be lucky to get 2 replies.

 

But that does not mean Kenwood Towne Place will ever come close to fulfilling its original intent. While it was sitting there being a complete eyesore next to I-71 time were changing as they still are. I still expect part of the tower structure to be demolished and the scope reduced. Why would anyone want to work in an office above a shopping center and have to contend with the congested traffic?

 

 

You want to equate Kenwood Towne Place in the same breath with The Banks? Talk about apples and oranges, a downtown riverbank urban entertainment/residential development versus a suburban addon to a already slipping shopping mall. They really have a lot in common.

 

 

 

Don't really have an opinion on KTP, but to say Kenwood Towne Center is slipping is really a stretch.  I can't think of any mall in Ohio that has so consolidated its grip on shopping in a metro area like they have done.  It's gone from being not that much different than, say, Tri-County in the late 1980s/early 1990s to being very clearly the most high-end, successful mall in the region.  I am not a big fan of malls in general and it can be a logistical hassle there, but to say it's "slipping" is unsupportable. 

Pretty much anybody who knows the Cincinnati retail industry looks at KTC as the cream of the crop in the current environment.

^ The retail portion of this project will be fine, and will drive it to be profitable.  The office space will be completed to the original plans, and I doubt any demo work will be done to what has been built already as that would be an engineering nightmare.  Look at a place like South Park in Charlotte or Buckhead in Atlanta and you can see that for whatever reason offices do want to locate in busy shopping districts.  There are already a few office buildings within a half mile of KTC.  I personally think it’d be a nightmare, but I hate being stuck in my car for longer than about 5 minutes at a time.  A lot of people don’t mind it, and like to get shopping done at lunch/right after work.

 

This project really is pretty standard, albeit not in Cincinnati yet.  The single difference being the white collar crimes surrounding it, and that will disappear soon enough.

Pretty much anybody who knows the Cincinnati retail industry looks at KTC as the cream of the crop in the current environment.

 

I agree it is the cream of the crop, which doesn't say a whole lot for the crop. Other than the fact it survives, how anyone can say a shopping experience there is any less painful than an impacted tooth is beyond me. My mother passed away 6 years ago. Dillards was the store she always wanted to go to for clothing as she knew it, dating back to when it was McAlpins. Just before her passing was the last time I have been in KTC, and I expect will remain the last.

I have to admit that I had more fun in malls when I was a teenager.

I have to admit that I had more fun in malls when I was a teenager.

 

Without the arcades, I doubt teens today spend as much time in malls.

Pretty much anybody who knows the Cincinnati retail industry looks at KTC as the cream of the crop in the current environment.

 

I agree it is the cream of the crop, which doesn't say a whole lot for the crop. Other than the fact it survives, how anyone can say a shopping experience there is any less painful than an impacted tooth is beyond me. My mother passed away 6 years ago. Dillards was the store she always wanted to go to for clothing as she knew it, dating back to when it was McAlpins. Just before her passing was the last time I have been in KTC, and I expect will remain the last.

 

I don't think anyone's saying that it's not a very painful shopping experience.  I was there on the Saturday before Christmas.  It was insane. 

 

But it being "painful" is not the same as it "slipping."  Far from it; it's painful because it has been very successful in terms of the stores it attracts (Apple, Nordstrom, Brooks Brothers, Microsoft, all those restaurants) and the huge number of people who go there. 

I go back to when it was the open air Kenwood Plaza, a place you could go to and shop at quite a number of stores in a short period of time.

 

Then they built Kenwood Mall (currently Sycamore Plaza) across the street. It was also pleasant as being enclosed weather was not a factor. But entrance and exit was easy. Before I moved to Mason I used to do the weekly grocery shopping in the Thriftway at Kenwood Mall. Loved that store, great layout, good selection, reasonable prices, and convenient. Wheel the cart out of the store to a parking place close and not out in East Jesus somewhere. If I remember right Shillitos was the anchor store and we frequently went there.

 

As years went on they got the bright idea to convert Kenwood Plaza into an enclosed mall, double deck much of it, and add more stores. Must have been the same outfit who redesigned Tri-County. Access to the result became more difficult as parking seemed to be an after-thought. As enclosed malls have dropped in favor, they started ripping out the backs of stores to provide a secondary open-air entrance. This further confuses the whole scenario. Where do I park, where do I enter?

 

Then someone decides to maximize on location and cram Kenwood Towne Place on a sliver of land smack next to I-71. We are all familiar with the rusted monstrosity sitting there for years. Even if completed, it is only going to further impact the problems of navigating through Kenwood Towne Center.

 

I will still state KTC is nearing a position of decline. Why? Because people increasingly put a value on their time and the hassle of trying to make a purchase at KTC is just not worth it. It has already brought Tri-County to its knees and will do the same thing here, just may take longer.

 

 

I don't like this sense of entitlement when it comes to parking. Overdependance on the automobile has destroyed one of America's greatest assets of the past: American Ingenuity, even by those who should have it. And I'll tell you a secret of retail: Those who are cranky and complain a lot about stuff like parking don't tend to be very big spenders so they're not the important customers.

 

Tri-County's decline has a lot to do with that corridor being heavily over-retailed. There's two other malls (one dead) in close proximity. Also, the mall concept has kind of dried up as free time and disposable income shrink. In most cities of Cincinnati size though, there are still one or two power malls.

 

^^We'll just have to agree to disagree on Kenwood declining.  As far as Tri-County, I think that mall is much more accessible in terms of parking and entering it than Kenwood, and its decline is not something I would attribute to that. 

If people start turning away from it, it will become easier to make purchases there. Congestion is really the main issue. And, economically speaking, that's a very good thing. Even if it's not fun for the customers.

>And I'll tell you a secret of retail: Those who are cranky and complain a lot about stuff like parking don't tend to be very big spenders so they're not the important customers.

 

Suburban commercial strips have to look big and dumb because people are driving by quickly so structures and signs have to evoke primal emotions in the most basic way possible.  It's basically a tabloid landscape.

 

It gets even dumber when you "can see it from the highway".  We have many examples around town of a newer retail development that has been placed on an awkward piece of land for maximum visibility from the interstate.  That strip mall with the JC Penny at Colerain and the thing with Dave & Busters in Tri-county comes to mind. These strip malls are "hard to get in and out of" but at least the one at Colerain crushed Northgate Mall simply by having highway visibility.

 

Enter Kjbrill, who doesn't understand the value of Kenwood Towne Place's I-71 visiblity.  People will put up with the "hassle" of the mall parking lot if they know a business is located there because they saw the sign.  That's how people think.  Kind of like how people who won't ride a bus will ride a streetcar or subway train.  Not logical but it's a fact and people who have earned a lot of money in real estate got that money because they understand this stuff.

 

^^We'll just have to agree to disagree on Kenwood declining.  As far as Tri-County, I think that mall is much more accessible in terms of parking and entering it than Kenwood, and its decline is not something I would attribute to that.

 

The only reason Tri-County is more accessible is because there is nobody there. You are typically driving around a more than half empty parking lot and garage. A number of years ago it was a bear to get in and out of. It is even noticable the traffic on the feeder streets like Princeton Pike and Kemper Rd is less. In recent years I have only been there to go to the Time Warner Cable store and exchange a cable modem or a settop box. Felt like I was alone.

 

I don't know what the reasons are for the decline in traffic, but it sure is evident. I remember driving from Madeira to Tri-County because it offered more than Kenwood Plaza. Just had to remind myself to never get close to the place around Christmas which was a complete logjam, kind of like what KTC is today.

A huge part of the traffic and congestion problem at Kenwood Towne center Is due to the fact that it is in a township, and not a city. It's significantly more difficult to do a major transportation project in a township with significantly more limited funds, state restrictions on zoning planning etc. And a significantly weaker government That is basically designed not to have a spine or any teeth.

^ That and being auto-oriented lends "successful" suburban development to fill up with cars. Cars take up a lot of space.

 

 

If you had as many people driving into a city NBD, you'd also have a clusterf. You can't just engineer your way out of that mess; you need multimodal access.

To try and get the thread back on track, the best I can find is the new owner of Kenwood Towne Place says it will be ready for tenants in the office portion beginning March, 2014. Seems a little long to me for something with the structural steel already standing, but I don't know if any work has begun. There may still be legal issues which have to be resolved before work can continue.

 

Does anyone have more current knowledge of what is happening at the site?  Would hate to be one of the lower level retail tenants while they are still trying to complete the office tower.

kjbrill, I don't even know what you're debating. It sounds like you're saying that Kenwood Towne Place is a bad idea and Kenwood Towne Centre is on a path to failure, because that whole area is too crowded and it's hard to find parking. In other words: no one goes there, it's too crowded!