Huge Lake Norman development wins financing

by Joe Marusak / The Charlotte Observer

WCNC.com

Posted on May 18, 2012 at 4:11 PM

MOORESVILLE, N.C. -- The long-planned $2 billion Langtree at the Lake mixed-use community on Lake Norman will immediately begin construction of its first 300 luxury apartments and 47,000 square feet of retail space, Ohio developer R.L. West Properties announced Friday.

The announcement came after R.L. Wests Langtree Development Co. secured $41 million in financing to start the project at Interstate 77 Exit 31 in southern Iredell County.

Barry Rigby, vice president of development for R.L. West and Langtree Development, said the company closed on the financing through M&T Bank, using a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development program that insures mortgage loans for multi-family rental housing construction. Focustar Capital Group, based in Charlotte and Wilmington, arranged the financing.

Langtree at the Lake was originally envisioned to incorporate high-end lakefront condominiums surrounded by mid-rise office towers, Carl Duvel of Focustar Capital said. A major bank had committed to finance the project when the 2008 global financial meltdown forced the bank to withdraw, he said.

Focustar Capital was introduced to the project in November 2008 and was retained as financial advisors in March 2009, when its proposal to restructure the project from a for sale community to a for rent community was accepted, Focustar said in a news release Friday.

Langtrees original partners included local developers Rick Howard and his son, Brad, and local lawyer David Parker, chairman of the N.C. Democratic Party.

The closing on the Langtree financing is the largest of its kind in North Carolina, Focustar Capital and Langtree Development announced.

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Huge Lake Norman development wins financing