Saturday, February 07, 2009

Scene This Week In...

Driving down Little Patuxent Parkway earlier this week I spotted a flock of geese grazing on the site of the proposed Plaza Residences in Town Center. It has been one year since the projects developer, WCI Communities, announced it was returning the deposits to the buyers who had hoped to be living in the tower by now.

A year ago the developer was saying that the earliest the project could get going again would be mid 2009. Judging from the fact that the project is no longer even shown on the company’s website, any restart in 2009 seems highly unlikely. WCI Communities went into Chapter 11 bankruptcy last August.

It looks like these squatters will get to enjoy this prime Town Center site for awhile longer.

In Ellicott City at least, the steel is rising on a new building. The new indoor sports facility in Meadowbrook Park near the Long Gate Shopping Center is well underway. As I posted back in September, the building will be used for roller hockey, basketball and volleyball. It is expected to complete by this summer.

4 comments:

  1. Yeh, only in Howard County can a gadfly subvert the governmental planning and approval process and stop construction of an aesthetically pleasing, residential improvement to the town center. I would be enraged if I had placed my deposit on the Plaza and had it hamstung by Liz Bobo's husband, what's his name, and Joel Broida. It's time for us to vote Liz out of office.
    HH

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  2. I remember that someone wrote a letter to the editor of the Flier, in an attempt to attack WCI, which made the claim that the lot the tower was supposed to built looked like an abandon inner-city lot.

    Are there lots of geese on abandon lots in the 'hood?

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  3. wb,

    Photo #1 is quite beautiful. The second illustration leaves me with mixed feelings - glad that people near the Meadowbrook Park will have great new recreational facilities, but sad that it includes so much hardscape parking and non-green roof structure in a park.

    HH,

    I get the impression that what you find aesthetically pleasing must be quite unusual from the norm.

    Oh, and how would feel if you were living in one of these other WCI residences now - http://tinyurl.com/ajgh8e
    with possibly defective and malodorous drywall throughout and had to get in line at bankruptcy court behind WCI's other creditors hoping to get it torn out and replaced? I think whoever had their deposit refunded isn't feeling rage, but relief.

    This is just one more situation that makes me proud of Columbia and the people within it who devote their time and resources to ensure Columbia's quality of life.

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  4. Give me a break. My sense of aesthetics is OK. Even Joel Broida, who hated the idea of being awakened in the morning with construction going on outside his window, said that the Plaza was beautiful and belonged in a resort. As for deficiencies in condos, all builders have their issues. The deficiencies aren't a problem when the builder rectifies them.
    HH

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