Atlantic Station Condo Owners Lose Lawsuit

[tigers84]

Originally Posted by arjay57

Okay, I understand you.

If we ever do business remind me not to put any faith in anything you say unless it's in the final contract.

If it involves unrealistic promises or guarantees, absolutely you should. Some things are implicit, such as the product is to work as presented. But anything beyond what "is normal", you should definitely have it in writing.

[ATLTJL]

Are most of you all familiar with how Twelve Atlantic Station is situated?

It basically sits on top of a huge foundation at least 10 stories high, maybe even more. In front of it is the Atlantic, which sits on pretty much the same elevated platform, but in front of that is just townhouses and a neighborhood.

If this was just a normal city block, then I'd agree with the people who say you can't count on a view, you never know what is going to go up. But I can kind of sympathize with the Twelve owners, because the one and only plot of land they had to worry about is where The Atlantic is. It's almost inconceivable that anything else could pop up to block their views. First, they would have to raze an entire neigborhood. Then, they would have to build something immensely tall becuase it will already start more than 100 feet lower than Twelve.

So really, all buyers at Twelve had to worry about was the plot where The Atlantic was built. So if they were verbally guaranteed a high rise was not going to be built there, they were assured a great view. There's just nothing else that could possibly block it.

I can really see people getting a snow job here. I mean, if I was in love with the property, I would definitely ask about the plot of land across the street. I bet I would get some kind of answer like, "Oh, don't worry, we actually own that land, and we're not going to build anything to block this view!!!" Then if I asked about the wording in the contract, I bet I would have gotten an answer like, "That just means we can't guarantee nothing will ever be built to block your view...but look out at those neighborhoods, do you think anything is going to be built there any time soon???"

The point is, no matter how rock solid something is, if you dig deep enough, you can always find wording in the fine print that can make you think twice. If you read all of the fine print that comes with a bottle of aspirin or Tylenol, you may never take it again. At some point, you just have to take a leap of faith or you will never get anything done.

These people did, and they got shafted. I haven't seen all the evidence and I'm no lawyer. But I did look at tons of condos in midtown and Buckhead during the boom, and THERE IS NO DOUBT IN MY MIND that sales associates lied to these people and promised them their views would not be blocked. They worked on commission and would say ABSOLUTEY ANYTHING to get people to buy condos.

I always loved it when they acted like the prices were perfectly reasonable. My favorite thing to say was, "Look, I know what you make, and I know you can't afford this place, so stop acting like this is a perfectly reasonable price." Nobody was happier than me when the bust hit, because all these people were brought down a notch. As far as I'm concerned, we're not in a dip, we're just in a correction where these places are finally selling for what they were actually worth in the first place. Probably still a little bit too much.

[Caleb Longstreet]

Not for nothing but, when you live in a high-rise you should be fairly aware that the property sits on land that is probably enormously expensive and any surrounding land adjacent or even near said hgh-rise is going to be equally expensive if not more so after YOUR tower goes up?

To think that you would have the ONLY tower with a view is a bit optimistic. We are only hearing one side here. We are assuming those who have buyer's remorse are right and that the evil sales person is wrong and yet, we have yet to hear the sales people weigh-in. Caveat Emptor does come to mind. Even if the fine print clearly stated, "hey Bingo, you will never, ever have a tower put up next to you, I promise" you are a fool to believe it.

NO ONE can completely guarantee anything in real-estate. Ever heard of emminent domain? The deal where a municipality can literally condemn your property for "the greater good". While in this case it doesn't apply, the point is that real estate can and proably will, change.

You bought a piece of real-estate. You pay the price, you takes your chances....always have, always will.....I have to believe those who sued are just being unrealistic. That land is too valuable to simply build one tower. Real Estate is not developed so some people can have a great view. No, it's built so some developers can make money. No harm in that. No one goes to work for free. It's just hard to believe no one would have thought this surrounding plat would not be developed....and not a 2 or 3 story building mind you.....

If the judge pitched it, there was probably le$gal ground$.....awarded to the highest bidder....for the greater good (Read, taxes)......I don't think I would ever buy a high-rise in an area that wasn't completely developed....just like the guy who buys a house in the burbs that backs up to some farmers field or woods....sooner or later, some bulldozer is going to show up and that forest view you HAD is going to be replaced with some guy drinking a beer on his back porch looking at you on yours.....NEVER buy a piece of property that is adjacent to a vacant but, build capable, adjacent property....never.

Especially when the owner of said vacant land sees YOUR property go up....time for Cletus to cash in and run.....

[ATL Golfer]

If anyone here really believes the plaintiff's in this case, you need your head examined.

This lawsuit was drummed up for one reason "I paid $400k thousand for this 2bd condo and now it is worth $200k ....I want my money back!!".

Seriously people, look a little deeper into what you read and think about it. I bet that site across the street was in pre-planning or even under construction when some of these people suing closed on their unit. They bought on the hype of Atlantic Station, a bustling economy, and the thought of making a good investment. Turns out it sucked and now they want to point the finger.

This is simply a desperate attempt to get their money back. There are plenty of dumb people in this world, but I don't believe all of those people were duped. I just don't buy it.

[ATLTJL]

There are plenty of dumb people in this world, but I don't believe all of those people were duped. I just don't buy it.

I would totally agree with you if I hadn't gone through the process myself. I didn't buy an intown condo, but I strongly considered it during around 2006, 2007.

In my shopping around, I realized just how unscrupulous the salespeople are. I don't know if they are actual realtors or not, but they will say absolutely anything to get you to buy. I heard them say all kinds of things that even I knew were just not true.

It's true that the buyers need to beware, but if you aren't that bright, it could be easy to get sucked in. Also, there are some things that you're going to have to risk no matter how much research you do.

It's possible that what you're saying is true, maybe the owners are just angry that their property went down in value. However, it wouldn't suprise me the least little bit to discover that they were blatantly lied to. Even if they were told a buidling was going up, I'm sure they weren't told the height. Have you seen The Atlantic? It completely dwarves Twelve, which dwarved everything around it when it was built.

I don't know what happened, but I do know that sales people (particularly those that worked for Novare) were just relentless in their drive to say whatever it took to close the sale.

[ecuresident]

I'd have to agree, it would be a different story if a different company put up that building, you really cant control that, but when the same company does it (and had it planned for years) than that is totally a different thing. But like other posters said, who knows whats was actually told to the buyers, but my guess is, it was whatever the buyer wanted to hear.

[tonygeorgia]

Meehan’s Public House to open Midtown location | Atlanta Restaurant and Retail Openings & Closings | What Now Atlanta

Meehan’s Public House, an Irish pub, is opening in Midtown.

101 Concepts, the restaurant group behind Food 101, Cibo E Beve and Meehan’s, today signed a lease to open its Irish pub at Atlantic Station, according to Dotan Zuckerman, new leasing manager for the Midtown mixed-use development.

[bdawk]

Does this have something to do with the Lawsuit which is the topic of this thread?