Ruskin Heights at risk of foreclosure, reports The Morning News

Ruskin Heights Development In Limbo
By Skip Descant
THE MORNING NEWS
FAYETTEVILLE — Not much is happening on the north slope of Mount Sequoyah these days. Unless you count sprouting weeds and the rivulets funneling runoff when it rains.
And it's unclear if anything will occur anytime soon on the 28-acre terraced hillside intended for Ruskin Heights, a mixed-use commercial and residential development.
The development is facing foreclosure by Metropolitan National Bank for nonpayment. Washington County Circuit Court filings claim Metropolitan loaned the developers $8.6 million in September 2007. That loan was to mature Sept. 17, 2009 with monthly payments to be made along the way.
The bank said the loan is in default with an unpaid principal balance of $8.33 million plus $393,239 in unpaid interest, along with $21,157 in other costs incurred by the lender regarding the loan.
However, this isn't to say Ruskin Heights has not put the money to use. Much of the infrastructure, such as streets, curbs, sidewalks and water lines for the 295-residence and 58,000-square-feet of commercial space has been installed, say city officials.
"Most, if not all, of these public infrastructure items have been installed to my knowledge," said Jeremy Pate, director of the Fayetteville Planning Division.
Electric service has not been installed, said Peter Main, principal communication consultant for Southwestern Electric Power Company. It's not clear if natural gas lines are in.
"Typically, the private utilities for a subdivision do not go in until later, either just before or when houses begin to be constructed," Pate added.
Development permits issued by the city remain in effect, Pate added.
The developers paid for the turn lane added to Mission Boulevard and interior streets. "No city cost shares on this project," Pate noted in an e-mail message.
The project's developers did not return calls Tuesday and calls to the Ruskin Heights' sales office were unsuccessful.
Last September, Ruskin Heights officials said they planned to begin construction on Phase I by November of this year. It would include 20 single-family homes, seven cottage homes, 17 townhomes, 11 live-work homes, two carriage homes and 20 loft-like apartments placed above retail and office space in the central square. Some 15,000 square feet of retail and office space is also in Phase I, Ward Davis, one of the three developers, said at the time.
The late Roger Koetter's property being developed by young men who assured me that they have the money to complete the project on the delicate hillside site

Davis also said the project's financing is guaranteed by Locally Global Investments, a Memphis, Tenn.-based investment firm. Locally Global was founded by William B. Benton Jr., Kevin Adams, Edward Labry III. All three are also named in the lawsuit.
Residents in the area worry about what might become of a steep site left to its own angle of repose.
"Obviously something's going to have to been done to stabilize the site," said Jo Ann Kvamme, who lives in the area and heads up the Root School Neighborhood Association. Kvamme was an outspoken opponent of the project saying the traditional town plan was too dense, particularly for a site where controlling runoff is a concern.
"I don't think that those reasons have changed or are turning out to be any less of a hazard," Kvamme said.