Vy65

Looks like these guys got sued yesterday in a foreclosure action. 

Cemex filed suit/for foreclosure against them last week too. 

Assuming the contractor gets a judgment authorizing foreclosure, it'll be sold at public auction. God knows who'd buy it considering there's been on-site construction. Could another developer come in and pick up where RATP left off? Are they going to have to scrape everything and put something else in? It'll be interesting to see if the baton gets passed and who ends up buying this assuming the foreclosure goes forward (which is not a given).

Foreclosure (2.9 million) filed by the concrete contractor today. 

On 8/2/2019 at 5:19 PM, lockmat said:

Has anyone reached out to Nancy about this?

You'd think there would be a story here with the principal being indicted in Chicago. 

A lawsuit was filed in settled in Florida concerning this project. One of the limited partners alleged Luxe was misappropriating funds. 

I wonder if any of the crowdfunded investors have grumbled about that lawsuit or the project's overall lack of progress. 

Lawsuit is still active and a summary judgment hearing scheduled for September. Wouldn't imagine that'd be going on if the project were dead. 

10 minutes ago, Luminare said:

 

I'm sure this is a crime that requires motive to prosecute, right? This is why even with all this great info you guys have provided the essential point of the argument would be; did they initially inflate numbers to *potentially and allegedly* fraud investors, or are they just that stupid.

EDIT: words like potentially and allegedly to cover my butt

I don't do criminal law, but my understanding is that bank fraud, like any form of fraud, requires intent. I skimmed through the indictment, but it sounds like misrepresentations were made regarding the lender's priority, secured status, repayment schedules, etc ... and not about overall return values. But like I said, I skimmed it. 

I'm curious to find out if any of the crowdfunded investors have made any complaints regarding the Houston property. I spent the morning searching but couldn't find anything on the internet. 

2 minutes ago, kbates2 said:

I don't think that this would be anything constituting a crime.  The 32% return seems to be based on a 5 year investment, so we are really talking about 6%+ returns a year.  Still, my understanding is that the real estate market is based on full project returns, which this would seem to be, and cursory internet searches tell me that 18%+ returns on projects are opportunistic and thus a gamble if that is what you are banking on. 

 

Telling somebody that you are shooting for super high returns usually isn't a crime.  Ponzi schemes and the like are a result of people covering up for these promises by using others monies to pay that gain while continuing to make absurd promises.  If they showed investors false financials claiming that they regularly receive those type of returns, that would be where the crime comes in.  

 

My assumption is that 32% IRR does happen, it just is an exception - not the rule.  If I was going to invest in this, I would want to see how they expected to achieve that based on prior performance.

To clarify, the indictment is brought by the US Attorney concerning what a couple of Illinois banks were told regarding what they were told about the status of their loans. It's not about the return numbers. I'm sure the prospectus has all kinds of disclaimer language that would foreclose a civil, let alone criminal, complaint on that score. 

Luxe's President/CEO/Owner/Whatever is under a criminal indictment in Illinois for bank fraud. USA v. Krivoruchko, 1:19-cr-00080

I should add - that indictment relates to one of Luxe's condo projects in Chicago

10 hours ago, swtsig said:

 

it's not really an assumption... perhaps if you did anything other than complain people would be a little more "open minded and modest"... if you simply wanted a place to b!tch maybe yelp would be more your speed.

This is a really ignorant post.

10 hours ago, j_cuevas713 said:

I know. Just giving the latest article on Swamplot.

I couldn’t agree more. Vy never has good input, just complaints lol

See above

30 minutes ago, West Timer said:

Give it to the Vy troll. She's the one that can't stop the pointless bitching about Houston. Unlike her, I can afford to live anywhere I want and I think Houston is fabulous and getting more fabulous by the day.

 

But I guess I'm probably being too insensitive. Really, I have nothing but pity for those poor pathetic losers who are handcuffed to places they would rather not be and aren't smart enough to be able to figure out how to do anything about it except whine about it on the internet and then proceed to blame our great city for their own personal issues and shortcomings.

 

Such great people we have in our fair city of ours. Open-minded, slow to make assumptions, and modest. Just the best.

10 hours ago, West Timer said:

^ Hey don't blame Houston if you're too poor to buy a bus ticket back to whatever shithole you came from.

What a enlightened, hospitable, and welcoming attitude.

Guess we should build a wall around Houston to keep people from crawling out of their shitholes and coming here for work.

7 hours ago, arbpro said:

If I thought my surroundings were ugly I would move. But that's just me!

Not a luxury everyone can afford unfortunately. 

Keep Houston Ugly

I’m happy to take the Pepsi challenge on that one Lum

3 hours ago, bobruss said:

I tried to stay out of this argument but calling the University of Houston, a Tier one school, second rate is a little childish. 

 

Sorry to burst your bubble, but it’s absolutely second rate compared to UT. Being a part of a list of 115 schools doesn’t impress.

Sorry to hurt your feelings bro. I won’t mock the overpriced, underwhelming tacos at the glorified mall food court. You clearly need this so go ahead and die on that hill.

Beyond stupid tribalism going on here. Not wanting one of the largest university systems in the country to expand its footprint in the city so that a second-rate but local institution can benefit? All while saying that the use of public funds are anti-competitive? 

Education is about the students and the ancillary benefits that come from having educational institutions nearby. If UH suffered because a better educational product was offered, then that's a good overall result. Sentiments to the otherwise are aggressively pursuing mediocrity. 

39 minutes ago, Triton said:

 

I think it has to do with the locations that they are at, since I'm sure the rent prices there are high. I too was shocked when I spent $28 for Vietnamese food at Sit Lo there. That was just for a bowl of pho and "Vietnamese tots".... which really confused my Vietnamese fiance but that's another matter entirely. Overall, I think you're going to have to pay a lot more because of it's location and you can bring a large group of friends here, as I did, and they can have the option to eat whatever they want. That's another plus. The vibe and atmosphere is great too... especially the upstairs bar lounge.

You may very well be right on the reason fro $28 pho (which is absurd), but the space/vibe/etc... doesn't come close to justifying the price tag. Hopefully Lyric market pans out better.

lol

4 hours ago, Texasota said:

Vy65, *why* did you think it was overpriced and overrated? Which vendors did you try? What was your criticism? Were the prices high for the amount of food, or compared to similar businesses elsewhere in the city? Were there issues with preparation - were things over or under-cooked? 

$14 for two tacos from Goode Company is outrageous. $7 for a slice of pepperoni from Mr. Nice Pie is outrageous. I had the tacos but not the pizza since the pizza oven was down. 

Compared to the Tacos a Go Go location downtown, Goode Co.'s prices were nearly double for an inferior product. 

It's not just those two stands either. $14 for a falafel sandwich during brunch (Oddball) or $13 for a grilled tofu bowl are also ridiculous. 

It's a couple of bucks and ultimately not a big deal if the food were good. But the food was average and the servings were far from abundant.   

It's comical that whenever someone airs some criticism, the immediate reaction is to flay them as though they were some pariah. I hate to break it to the posters here, but, predictably, the experience at a glorified mall food court really is just below-average. 

I'm a troll because I'm not rah thousand dollarsing rah about a glorified food court? 

I'm sorry my honesty offends you so much Cap.

Overrated and Overpriced. 

The trees and giant silver arches look horrible together. Like some 60s sci-fi comic.

Re: naviguessors post - Yeah that seems like highest/best use

what about that public housing right next to downtown?