Local hotel developer indicted in Ohio

Local hotel developer indicted in Ohio

An Ohio grand jury has indicted Robert Falor, the Chicago developer whose failed attempts to redevelop three downtown hotels left a trail of bad feelings and lawsuits from investors and lenders.

Mr. Falor stole $400,000 from an Ohio man who invested in a plan to convert the former Hyatt Printers Row into a so-called condominium-hotel, according to the indictment by a Cuyahoga County, Ohio, grand jury. The project failed, and a mezzanine lender ultimately took over the hotel at 500 S. Dearborn St., now called the Hotel Blake.

The grand jury last week returned an indictment of one count of theft, a felony, meaning Mr. Falor, 41, could face as much as five years in prison if convicted, according to a spokesman for Cuyahoga County prosecutor Bill Mason.

The developer’s arraignment is scheduled for March 12. Attempts to reach Mr. Falor were unsuccessful.

Sink or swim [Southern California]

Sink or swim [Southern California]

Merchants at the eclectic Seaport Village shopping complex are seeing something they’ve rarely seen amid the T-shirt shops and jewelry stores: empty storefronts and liquidation signs.

There’s the shop near the waterfront that once housed The Cabbage Tree. Its owners recently took the “midnight run” – emptying the gift store in the wee hours and disappearing, leaving landlord Terramar Retail Centers to try to collect on the lease obligation.

Across the sidewalk, there’s the “Closed for Inventory” sign hanging in the window of Whitt/Krauss Objects of Fine Art. The art gallery filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in January, owing creditors for everything from a $5,640 catering bill to about $250,000 in projected 2009 rent and maintenance fees.

And a few steps away, the Big Dogs sportswear shop is holding a liquidation sale as the Santa Barbara chain prepares to close all of its 71 stores.

Miami condo king Jorge Pérez battles to survive real estate slump [South Florida]

Miami condo king Jorge Pérez battles to survive real estate slump [South Florida]

Rising from city bureaucrat to billionaire builder, Jorge Pérez became the great American success story, Miami style. The Cuban immigrant made the South Florida skyline his canvas, erecting high-rises from Miami to West Palm Beach.

But not one of them can compare to his latest creation, the ICON Brickell, a sumptuous $1 billion glass-and-concrete city within a city that includes three soaring towers, a pool the size of a football field, 1,640 condos, a boutique hotel and five restaurants.

It is Florida’s most spectacular condo, Pérez’s masterpiece, his legacy.

And, now, it may be his undoing.

Creditors want deposits back from Orlando vacation-home developer [South Florida]

Creditors want deposits back from Orlando vacation-home developer [South Florida]

A group of would-be resort-home owners is attempting to force an Orlando developer into U.S. Bankruptcy Court, saying the company took about $34 million in deposits for never-built houses in Polk County.

The 19 creditors, many British, filed an involuntary-bankruptcy petition Feb. 20 that seeks to freeze the assets of Superior Homes & Investments LLC so they can retrieve deposits made in 2004 and 2005.

The deposits, from $40,000 to $140,000 each, were for vacation homes in a 791-lot Davenport community called Oakmont Resort & Spa. Pictures on the development’s Web site show vast stretches of dirt lots littered with construction equipment.

Real Estate Fraud Growing in Polk and Across Florida

Real Estate Fraud Growing in Polk and Across Florida

A gate and a guard house protect the houses in the Sunset Ridge neighborhood, including a three-bedroom, two-bathroom vacation home on Sunset View Drive.

While those security measures might prevent criminals from making physical intrusions into the home owned by a British couple, there are no equivalent protections deter virtual thieves.

Last March, someone who may never have set foot inside Sunset Ridge filed a simple legal document with the Polk County Clerk of the Court’s Office and suddenly claimed ownership of the house with a full-sized pool. The document, known as a quit-claim deed, asserted that the home’s owners, Martin and Penny Knight, had surrendered title for a mere $10.

That single legal filing thrust the home’s owners into a legal challenge to invalidate the deed, which bore their purported signatures.

In Maricopa, Ariz., a Paradise Found and Lost

In Maricopa, Ariz., a Paradise Found and Lost

Builders rushed into this one-time agricultural crossroads during the housing boom. They put up beige stucco houses on winding streets, with names like Heavenly Place and Good Vibrations Lane. They lured young people who couldn’t afford homes in nearby Phoenix or its costly suburbs. The population soared to 37,000 last year from 1,400 a decade ago, making Maricopa one of the nation’s fastest-growing towns.

Now, it’s become a dead end for some of those people.

“We’re trapped,” says Tracy Campbell, as she watches her 2-year-old daughter romp on a playground.