One of Watauga County’s largest real-estate developments in recent years has been sold after the developer’s affiliates filed for bankruptcy last week.
The 6,000-acre Laurelmor golf resort has been sold to new owners after Florida-based Ginn Company filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy to liquidate two Florida projects, as well as agreeing to allow lenders to have partial control of a Bahamas-based development.
BR Development Group LLC and Blowing Rock Resort Venture LLC will now own the Laurelmor resort, which straddles Watauga and Wilkes counties, according to county deed filings. The property is listed at a value of $32 million. Both companies were formed in Georgia in early December and are tied in with Atlanta-based Reynolds Capital Group.
The sale is part of a restructuring agreement with lenders, led by Credit Suisse, after Ginn was unable to refinance a $675 million debt it defaulted on earlier this year.
“It’s important to note that all other Ginn interests are unaffected,” company spokesman Ryan Julison said in a prepared statement.
Click here for more from The Watauga Democrat
BY WILLIAM SHERMAN
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Daily News reporter William Sherman in front of the Empire State Building.
In one of the biggest heists in American history, the Daily News “stole” the $2 billion Empire State Building.
And it wasn’t that hard.
The News swiped the 102-story Art Deco skyscraper by drawing up a batch of bogus documents, making a fake notary stamp and filing paperwork with the city to transfer the deed to the property.
Some of the information was laughable: Original “King Kong” star Fay Wray is listed as a witness and the notary shared a name with bank robber Willie Sutton.
The massive ripoff illustrates a gaping loophole in the city’s system for recording deeds, mortgages and other transactions.
The loophole: The system - run by the office of the city register - doesn’t require clerks to verify the information.
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by Tara Darby
Is the “bigger is better” mentality fading in terms of real estate? Are the days of McMansions coming to an end? Well, it seems for some homeowners it is. There’s a new movement out there that’s creating quite a buzz among environmentalist and folks seeking a simpler life. It’s called the Small House Movement and it might just be the next small thing.
These homes bring a whole new meaning to up close and personal since most are less than 1000 square feet, some are even less than 100 square feet.
Click here to read more from Realty Times
Story by Kathleen McFadden
Earlier this month, Boone voters overwhelmingly approved a $25 million bond referendum for a new water intake facility on the South Fork of the New River in the Brownwood area near Todd. Town staff has now turned the focus to an environmental assessment currently underway.
According to Town Manager Greg Young, engineering firm WK Dickson mailed a “scoping” letter to the 18 agencies and departments who will review the assessment, including U.S. Fish & Wildlife, in mid-October. The document outlines the scope of the project—hence the term “scoping” letter—and provides a number of specific project parameters. Read More from High Country Press »
Say goodbye to the folks, pack as many Thanksgiving leftovers as possible into your car and get back to Boone this Saturday—you’ve got a football game to watch. No. 2-seeded ASU will host the South Carolina State Bulldogs at 12:00 p.m. Saturday in a first-round playoff game at Kidd Brewer Stadium.
Read More »
Tree Story by Anna Oakes
With literally thousands to choose from, you and your family can find the perfect Christmas tree this year. Families from across the state and Southeast travel hundreds of miles to our mountains for their tannenbaums, but High Country residents enjoy the privilege of living right in the center of North Carolina’s Choose and Cut Capital.
If you’ve never experienced the joy of selecting your own real Christmas tree, make this the year you start a new tradition. Chopping down your own tree is an excuse to spend a little time with your family, roommates or friends, a reason to bundle up and feel the cool air sweep against your cheeks, and a chance to set foot on something other than asphalt and concrete. Plus, you’ll meet hardworking farmers and put money into the local economy at a time when it’s sorely needed.
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Ski story by Sam Calhoun
Not once, but twice before Thanksgiving the High Country has woken up to a blanket of fresh snow on the ground, including this week when Sugar Mountain Resort took the cue from Old Man Winter and opened for the season on Monday, November 17. For all the people who are in denial about the start of winter, there’s no weather report left to dispute—it’s cold, it has been snowing, and if the opening of all four of the High Country’s ski slopes tells us anything, winter is definitely here.
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Story by Kathleen McFadden
Two rezoning cases were on the agenda for Boone’s Quarterly Public Hearing on November 13. ASU requested a change in the zoning of the rock building on the corner of Rivers and Depot streets from B-1, Central Business District, to U-1, University District. Boone Five, LLC requested rezoning a tract on Highway 105 from a split B-3, General Business, and R-1, Single-Family Residential, to CDB-3, Conditional District General Business.
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By Ronald Grover Ronald Grover
To the 1 million viewers of Bravo’s reality show Flipping Out, Jeff Lewis is the acerbic, demanding, and sometimes petulant face of real estate speculation. In the program’s first two seasons (already in reruns), Lewis turned a hefty profit buying and updating homes to sell in Los Angeles’ toniest neighborhoods. At the start of the year he sold a 1,900-square-foot house to Lost star Dominic Monaghan for $1.6 million.
But as the cameras stopped shooting seven months ago, the housing market went from slowed to stalled, leaving the 38-year-old speculator, as he says, “paralyzed.” Lewis has been mired for months in a dispute over the boundaries of a $2.5 million property. A deal to buy a house fell apart when Countrywide Financial (CFC.) foreclosed on the seller. Until recently, Lewis lived in a 700-square-foot home, tight quarters for an entourage that includes two cats, three dogs, and, during working hours, a housekeeper and two assistants. “These are not great times, and people are suffering,” says Lewis, a self-professed “working millionaire” who has flipped more than 40 homes.
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By Frank Ruggiero
Appalachian State University is hoping to hit the airwaves with a new broadcasting center, though it will need a green light from the Boone Town Council.
University officials appeared before the council and Boone Area Planning Commission Thursday, Nov. 13, at the town’s quarterly public hearing, requesting a zoning change for property in the central business district.
The university requested to change the zoning classification of the former Alliance Bible Fellowship building, located at the corner of Depot and Rivers streets, from B-1 (central business) to U-1 (university) to establish the George G. Beasley Broadcasting Complex.
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By Scott Nicholson
George Gilleland is president of the High Country Home Builders Association and owner of The Hardwood Company in Boone, selling wood products and other building materials. He said while the construction market has cooled a little, it’s still far from doom and gloom.
“I think we’re doing better than the national average,” Gilleland said. “People are still buying high-end second homes. Our average home prices are still up there.”
Click here to read the Watauga Democrat article.
Written by John Boyle
The lingering drought in much of North Carolina has resulted in the U.S. Department of Agriculture declaring 59 counties, including nearly all of Western North Carolina, disaster areas.
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That means local farmers who can prove significant crop losses may be eligible for low-interest loans or other payments. This is the second year in a row that drought has severely impacted crops, with corn and eastern tobacco crops taking the worst hits this year.
If you think the drought is no longer an issue, just ask a local farmer.
Click here to read the article from the Asheville Citizen Times
Story by Kathleen McFadden
Researchers at Colorado State University released an economic study this week stating that the creation of the proposed Grandfather National Scenic Area (GNSA) would attract an estimated 1.5 million visitors a year, result in the creation of 724 new jobs and generate an additional $38.4 million in annual revenue for Avery, Caldwell and Watauga counties.
The proposed scenic area would encompass 25,500 acres of the 510,119-acre Pisgah National Forest along the Blue Ridge Parkway from Grandfather Mountain to Blowing Rock and would apply scenic protections only to public lands currently managed by the U.S. Forest Service.
Click here for the article from High Country Press
Grandfather Mountain President Crae Morton announced this week that based on a recent survey by Doug Suttles of Suttles Surveying in Marion, N.C., Grandfather Mountain will list the elevation of its summit as 5,946 feet.
This number is 18 feet lower than the elevation of 5,964 feet that Grandfather Mountain has been using in its promotional materials since opening as a scenic travel attraction in 1952. The higher number originally came from North Carolina Geologic and Economic Survey Bulletin No. 27 entitled “Altitudes in North Carolina” published in 1917.
Click here for the article in High Country Press
Story by Kathleen McFadden
“Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.”
So cautioned Craig Lewis of the Lawrence Group at the closing presentation of the Boone 2030 planning charrette last week.
What Lewis meant is that the collective vision of what Boone can become won’t be accomplished in one fell swoop or even in the next several years. The vision is a long-term one, looking ahead two decades from right now, and the only way to reach it is in incremental steps.
Those incremental steps are the “good” that Lewis referred to, with the “perfect” being the ideal vision.
Click here for the complete article from High Country Press
Story by David Brewer
Sheri Baker, owner of Dragonfly Theater & Pub, quit her job 2.5 years ago to focus her work and attention on Boone’s new movie theater and pub. The Dragonfly Theater and Pub is absolutely the only venue in the High Country that has, in four months, hosted major motion pictures, independent movies, live concerts, church meetings, fundraisers, multimedia events, political debate viewing parties, Monday Night Football and a beer tasting. To say that the Dragonfly is versatile would be a bit of an understatement.
Click here to read the story from High Country Press
Click here to visit the Dragonfly website
ps. EDITOR- I recently held my sons 5th birthday party at Dragonfly and it was great! They let us bring in our DVD and served all the children lunch and popcorn. Best of all, the cost was very reasonable.
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The Boone Town Council will meet at 9:00 a.m. on Thursday, July 24, to vote on a resolution authorizing the town’s finance director to apply to the Local Government Commission for approval of a $25 million issue of general obligation bonds.
Click here to read the article from the High Country Press
The town of Boone will begin an appeal process this week on the Superior Court’s decision in favor of local developer Phil Templeton.
On July 3, Superior Court Judge Ronald K. Payne reversed a decision made by the Boone Board of Adjustment (BOA) denying a special use permit for the construction of a medical clinic on State Farm Road.
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