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April 5, 2009
Bills on layaway for Wiregrass subcontractors
Firms: ‘Pay us’ for months-old work on the shopping center
Tampa Bay Business Journal
by Janet Leiser
The check's in the mail.
The developer of the $150 million Shops at Wiregrass took a bold move last October opening the picturesque shopping venue in a retail-unfriendly economy. While it has won raves for its vendor mix and design and has leases or commitments for 90 percent of the leaseable space in the open-air center, not everyone is seeing the payoff — yet.
At least 18 subcontractors have placed construction liens on the project. Eleven liens have been filed with the Pasco County Clerk of Court since Jan. 5. Many of the businesses, from the Tampa subcontractor that installed roll-up doors at Macy’s to the Plant City business that installed sidewalks and curbs, worked at a rushed pace to build Tampa Bay area’s newest regional mall.
...Forest City Enterprises Inc. said construction liens, totaling roughly $1.4 million, will be settled and aren’t indicative of financial problems with the project. Its general contractor, Winter Construction Co., of Atlanta said liens are routine in larger construction projects such as the 642,000-square-foot Wiregrass.
NoLandGrab: If liens "aren't indicative of financial problems with the project," they could be indicative of financial problems with the development company itself, which, according to CEO Charles Ratner, is working to "proacitvely manage" its "debt maturities." TRANSLATION: Forest City Enterprises is paying off creditors before paying off contractors, which, to most people, might be an indication of a cash-flow problem.
Posted by eric at April 5, 2009 10:41 PM