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A Chicago private-equity fund bought the foreclosed 5th & Main condominiums and commercial property development for a total of $11.2 million in a special auction Friday morning.

The buyer, VTH Fifth & Main LLC., is an entity of the Rosemont, Ill.-based ACG Equities, Inc., which began making acquisitions of financially troubled mixed-use commercial and residential properties last year. ACG’s first purchase was a similar project in Atlanta, which sold for $24 million.

Paul J. Muessig, a co-founder of ACG, was on hand for the Fifth & Main auction. His group was the only bidder for the property, which was sold in two parcels — residential and commercial.

The residential component, which includes 129 condo or apartment units, sold for $9.33 million, while the commercial property, which includes the building housing the Allium Café and Bar and other businesses, went for $1.87 million.

“We have a plan to bring the property back into the market and make a success of it,” Muessig said, adding that the group would have more to say about its plans later. “Right now, we’re just concentrating on getting it bought.”

Fifth & Main, situated at the figurative gateway to East Nashville, had staked its claim as a project that aimed to merge condo ownership with affordable housing initiatives. Neighborhood advocates touted it as a spark-plug development that could spur other worthwhile projects along a rugged part of Main Street just across the Cumberland River from downtown.

Allium and Otter’s Chicken Tenders are among the commercial businesses that opened in the building.

Nashville attorney Charles S. Sanger, who conducted the sale as representative of the banks holding loans on the property, said that only nine of the condo units had been sold, but that about 60 have been rented.

It has been in receivership for about two years, he said, and during that time has been managed by the Freeman Webb Co.

About $29 million in loans on the project were in default, with the main lenders identified as Wachovia Bank (now Wells Fargo) and Bank of America.

The property was developed by the nonprofit Affordable Housing Resources, but fell prey to the sagging economy and the crash of the subprime real-estate lending market.

“It really wasn’t anybody’s fault,” Sanger said.

“Fifth & Main faced unique financial challenges on top of the economy in general,” said Alice Walker, president of the Greater Nashville Association of Realtors. “But it’s a great project, and I believe the new owners will be able to make a go of it.”

The purchase price makes the project a profitable rental property, even if the condo market hasn’t rebounded enough to allow for sales of the units, said Kirby Davis. president of Nashville-based First Management Services and past president of the Greater Nashville Apartment Association.

He said his company did not look at buying the project, but he believes that the price – which he said works out to about $77,500 a unit – would fit with the current downtown west end rental market.

“That sub-market is the strongest in the metropolitan area,” Davis said, with average rent of $1,164 and an occupancy rate of 97.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010.

“If they maintain average rents and occupancy, then it does make sense financially,” he said.

As for the original project, “The timing was wrong,” Davis said. “It came on line when the economy was on the decline. I think there is a condo market here, but at that time, potential buyers found it hard to get financing.”

The project at one time had about 100 of the units under contract, but financing fell through for most of the buyers.

Some of the units were set aside for residents making 80 percent or less of the median income in the Nashville area, or about $38,000. But many of them needed subprime financing, which was the first casualty of the real-estate market collapse.

Median price for single-family homes also showed an increase compared to January 2010.  The median price of a single-family residence was $165,500 in January 2011 compared to $159,000 last January.  Condominiums saw a decrease in median price for January 2011 at $131,500.  By comparison, the median price for a condominium it was $154,550 in January 2010.

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Written by Juanita Cousins – The Tennessean

2:14 AM, Feb. 2, 2011  |  

H.G. Hill Realty Co. is planning a project that could bring 9,000 square feet of retail, restaurants or office space to midtown.

The proposed Hill Center Broadway will come to the building that housed The Great Escape used collectibles store for 33 years. A discount tobacco and beer store still occupies a portion of the building and is operating on a month-to-month lease.

Once a tenant is secured, the realty company that owns the land will raze the current 3,625-square-foot structure and create a building with up to two levels, patios, a mezzanine and 25 on-site parking spaces, said Jon Petty, an affiliate broker with Southeast Venture, which is designing the project.

Parking constraints on the 0.3-acre site will prohibit apartments or condos from going there.

“We are very early in the preliminary stages of the process, but it will be a small, mixed-use building. We are taking our time on interviewing candidates and finding the best tenants that will work for us and the changing concept of midtown,” Petty said.

H.G. Hill Realty CEO Jimmy Granbery declined to elaborate on the project, saying only that it has no exact time frame and the company has considered options.

The Great Escape — known as a go-to location for a wide variety of movies, vintage music, TV shows and classic comics — bid farewell to the building at 1929 Broadway in October and expanded its Charlotte Avenue store.

Rising real estate prices near West End forced it to leave the location last year, said Great Escape owner Gary Walker.

“There is a lot of demand in the midtown area with its proximity to downtown and Vanderbilt (University),” Petty said.

Less than a block east of the Hill property, restaurateur Chris Hyndman is renovating his former Lime restaurant into Tavern, a pub-inspired restaurant with a casual concept and weekend brunch.

“Midtown is basically going to go through — not a gentrification — but changes that will bring a new type of customer there. What you see is a lot of old buildings, and it is the natural progression for new development and more high-profile restaurants and retail to come to the area,” Petty added.

A substantial majority of both homeowners and current renters agree that owning a home is a smart decision over the long term. That’s according to the results of a National Association of REALTORS® survey of 3,793 adults conducted online by Harris Interactive.

The American Attitudes About Homeownership survey found that in today’s challenging economy, 95% of owners and 72% of renters believe that over a period of several years, it makes more sense to own a home. In addition, an overwhelming majority of homeowners are happy with their decision to own a home—93% of owners surveyed would buy again.

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There were 1,500 homes sold in December 2010, resulting in only a 6.9 percent decrease compared to the 1,612 closings reported in December of 2009. The year ended with a total of 20,250 closings, which is a 4.4 percent decrease compared to the 21,183 closings in 2009. 

Median price for single-family homes continued to show an increase again in December.  The median price of a single-family residence was $174,500.  Condominiums showed a decrease in median price at $140,000.  By comparison, the median price of a single family residence in December of 2009 was $164,000 and for a condominium it was $149,900.

RISMEDIA, December 29, 2010—In an effort to help families find decent housing and to prevent future foreclosures, the Obama Administration announced nearly $73 million in housing counseling grants to more than 500 national, regional and local organizations. As a result of the funding, hundreds of thousands of households will have a greater opportunity to find housing or keep the homes they have because of the housing counseling and counseling training grants awarded by U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan.

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