Tempe Town Lake

Couple lost $150,000 on Centerpoint condo deposit

by Luci Scott - Sept. 29, 2010 11:04 AM

The Arizona Republic

Ron and Marni Marks are wistful as construction workers start converting the Centerpoint condo towers to rental units.

The Markses lost nearly $150,000, their deposit toward Tower One's Unit 810, which they were buying for $910,000.

The empty-nesters had lived in a home in the Kierland area of north Phoenix and decided to downsize and adopt an urban lifestyle.

They chose Centerpoint in downtown Tempe because it was near restaurants, shopping, Gammage Auditorium at Arizona State University, light rail and Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.

Their condo, above the gym and spa, had an 1,800-square-foot patio that faced the northeast and wrapped around to the southwest, overlooking the pool.

Their unit was just under 1,000 square feet. When they bought into the place, they were buying a lifestyle, including a share in a Napa Valley vineyard that brought grapes to Tempe to allow shareholders to be involved in wine processing.

A store and restaurant were to be conveniently downstairs. Their unit had a TV that would allow the residents to see into the restaurant kitchen. And as condo owners, they would be able to use watercraft for free at Lake Pleasant.

The Markses became alarmed when Centerpoint developer Tempe Land Co. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, but they held out hope because Chapter 11 allows for reorganization.

Their hopes faded when Tempe Land converted its motion from reorganization to Chapter 7 liquidation.

The Markses paid $5,000 in earnest money, which is non-refundable. Later, when they signed the papers for hard money, they put $144,900 in escrow that was released to the builder for construction, which was written in the contract.

Forty-four condo buyers lost money, Marni said.

The Markses had rented out their Phoenix home but were stalled in moving into Centerpoint. Their unit was finished, but the public area wasn't.

"Some of us were in a temporary living situation, in limbo," she said. The Markses and some other buyers lived in Trillium near 52nd Street and Van Buren.

Then Scott Coles, the head of Mortgages Ltd., committed suicide, and the Centerpoint builder didn't get the rest of the money it needed to complete the condo project.

The Markses are listed as creditors in the bankruptcy, but many vendors are ahead of them to get paid from the sale of the condos.

Ron has been in contact with the attorney, but "we have no hope of getting our money back," Marni said.

A few months ago, the couple took a lease-buy option on a condo in Tapestry on Central across from the Heard Museum. "We wanted the downtown feel, and our unit happened to be one with a huge patio," she said. Ron, 49, who travels to give sales-training seminars, sold his car and takes the light rail to the airport.

"We like to be a little bit green," she said.

She works at the InterContinental Montelucia Resort and Spa in Paradise Valley.

They can't afford to buy their condo right away, so they plan to rent for a couple of years, said Marni, who hasn't lost all hope with Centerpoint.

"It's something we had our hearts set on," said Marni, who is 46.

They like Tapestry, but it's not the same.

"We'll buy here unless something changes with the owners on Centerpoint," she said.

That's not likely. Centerpoint's new owners, Cleveland-based Zaremba Group, is interviewing management companies, and