Jul 20
Pacific Summit Going Downhill?
Complaints about late payment, partial payment or no payment at all are starting to grow louder and more insistent as the California based developers face foreclosure and lien action on many of their projects in the central Texas area.
Just three years ago, Pacific Summit Partners entered the Austin development arena with a $100 million investment in land from southwest of Austin to Liberty Hill. They planned ambitious projects consisting of thousands of homes in four development sites: Highland Meadows, Lakeline Station, Fairways at Steiner Ranch, and Aviara. Now, Lakeline Station is headed for foreclosure, the 230 acre Liberty Hill land has been foreclosed and is back on the market, and construction seems to have stopped at both Aviara and the Fairways.
The theory is that Pacific Summit is taking its spectacular nose-dive in the wake of major real estate woes on the west coast, rather than any development slow down in the central Texas market. The Austin region remains fairly sheltered from the troubles affecting the rest of the nation. Still, financial problems with large development companies who do business in central Texas translates into trouble for local companies who supply building materials and local developers who partner with them.
Pacific Summit owes dozens of local contractors and suppliers for just about every aspect of home building, from major sewer, drainage and water systems and concrete for foundations and driveways to the small details and finishing touches such as carpeting, marble counter tops, and light fixtures.
Pacific Summit Partners is a group formed especially to develop properties in the Austin area. Formed of Pacific Century Group and Summit Partners, the partnership now looks toward a bleak future as it faces numerous liens and lawsuits for breach of contract and lack of payment.
