A construction worker pulls down the R.J. Griffin and Co. sign from the construction site of The Vue on Monday.
Construction on The Vue, a 51-story uptown condo tower that kept on building as others stalled, will be stopped as of today because the developer hasn't paid its bills, according to an e-mail sent Monday by the project's general contractor.
It's the latest sign of trouble in the center city condo market, where sales have plunged in recent years. The delay also illustrates the real estate market's lingering weakness as lenders scrutinize projects more closely than in the past.
The e-mail to subcontractors, signed by contractor R.J. Griffin & Co.'s senior project manager and obtained by The Observer, said Griffin had not been paid for work done in July and, while it has been working with the owner and lenders to resolve the matter, “to date we have been unable to reach a resolution.”
As a result, the contractor directed subcontractors to stop all work on the $275million-plus project effective at 12:01 a.m. today, according to the e-mail.
Calls to R.J. Griffin's Charlotte office were not returned. The Vue's owner, Chicago-based MCL Cos., declined to talk with The Observer.
At the work site, at Fifth and Pine streets, workers streamed out of the tower at the shift's end Monday, carrying an assortment of items, such as ladders, buckets and drills, that workers often leave overnight. Workers with four subcontractors, and half a dozen Griffin employees, said they had been told that work might stop because of unpaid bills.
Employees also removed R.J. Griffin signs from fences and used cranes to hoist portable toilets and other heavy equipment to the ground from The Vue's upper floors.
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