WATERDOG
Gemini
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Don't Bother Me, I'm in Havi
 
MENIFEE, CA
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ELIMINATOR EAGLE
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Posted: Feb. 19 2011,4:15 pm |
Post # 1 |
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English Village changes hands
Lender taking title back, removing parking fees
By NATHAN BRUTTELL
TODAY'S NEWS-HERALD
Today's News-Herald
Published Friday, February 18, 2011 11:22 PM MST
The owner of the English Village isn’t the only thing on the way out.
Nathan Bruttell/News-Herald Photo Jan Kassies, Convention and Visitors Bureau director of visitors services, and volunteers pretend to tape over the parking fee sign at the English Village in excitement of the property being turned over to the lender early next week. The $3 charge for car parking at the property will continue until St. Louis-based Virtual Realty Enterprises takes the title back from the previous owners either Monday or Tuesday, officials said.
Maritan owner Chris Read confirmed Friday that he stopped making payments which will shift control of the property to its lender, St. Louis-based Virtual Realty Enterprises. Read said he has not declared bankruptcy on the property. VRE representatives declined to go into specifics on when Read stopped making payments, but said they are scheduled to take back the title of the private property either Monday or Tuesday.
“Like so many players in this economy, (Read) went into default and VRE is taking the property back,†said VRE Development Partner Paul Sharp.
Sharp said Friday that once VRE “takes back the title,†the company plans to remove the parking fees at the English Village. Read began charging $3 for cars and $10 for RV parking in March 2010 to help offset maintenance costs at the parking lot. Prior to the charges, the lot had been free and open to the public for the previous five years.
“We’re going to eliminate the fee and it will be open parking,†Sharp said. “Certainly both the city and (the Convention and Visitors Bureau) had pointed out how detrimental the parking (fee) was to the property. The (CVB) is going to act as a property manager for us, since none of us are physically in Havasu.â€
CVB president/CEO Doug Traub said Friday the group will use Lake Havasu-based Thumbs Up Janitorial as the cleanup crew for the English Village.
“It’s a tremendous thing that we can clean it up and get rid of that fee,†Traub said. “It allows us to take our premiere attraction in the city and make it as good of an experience as a visitor can have.â€
CVB officials said they received more than 150 complaint forms in the last year regarding the parking fees.
“And those are just the people we couldn’t calm down,†Traub said. “That doesn’t go into how many were upset about it and didn’t take the time to write a complaint.â€
Traub estimated that the total cost of maintenance could be close to $24,000 a year.
Sharp confirmed that VRE would pay for costs for the upkeep but declined to comment on the total cost.
Read, who currently lives in San Diego, said he wasn’t happy with the parking fees charged at the English Village but previously said the move was necessary for maintenance and upkeep. He later added that he was “a little happy†to be rid of the property.
“Under the circumstances, sure,†he said. “I would’ve liked to have developed the property but marketing is such that it wasn’t a viable option. I would’ve liked to have kept it and developed it but no one is developing anything at the moment.â€
As for the next step, Sharp said the company is still in the process of determining what should be done.
“Nothing has been decided,†Sharp said. “We are going through the design development process to determine what the highest and best use of the property is. We plan to proceed with the entitlement process with the city (in the next 30 days). … We have some preliminary plans we’ve been generating, but they’re not at the point where we want to publicize what that’s going to look like.â€
Sharp said VRE President Henry Warshaw will have “the final say on the property.†Sharp added that the company has “no immediate plans to sell the property.â€
“The immediate plan is to look at what’s the highest and best use of the property so it can get its maximum value if and when VRE decides to sell the property,†he said.
Rumors of the changeover have been circulating in Lake Havasu City for months, but Mayor Mark Nexsen said he was happy to hear it was confirmed Friday.
“I’m aware that the new owner would like to redevelop it,†Nexsen said. “There didn’t seem to be much hurry to do that from the old developer. Until it literally changes hands, I’m reluctant to make a comment.â€
Nexsen later added that he was pleased.
“I had hoped the property had changed over sooner than it had,†he said. “But we’re eager to work with the new owners on developing it in any way we can.â€
Edited by WATERDOG on Feb. 19 2011,4:16 pm
"Damn you sure know how to fock things up."-GFR
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11-24-2024 Three Word Post.....The Next Generation.... (Rep.#19,435) from: BigDog
The pizza place still upstairs on the end? 
