Bill Bradley of Bridgecreek says that he was surprised that the Vistas group chose to accelerate. He said that he had met with the group, its lawyer, and its previous steering committee numerous times over the past year, including an on-site meeting in the Pass, to work toward restructuring with them. The previous negotiations had all been positive, he said.
Even after the information and question session in January, says Bradley, he felt that the investors were willing to work with Bridgecreek. He says that he was surprised that a new group of individuals came into control of the steering committee and worked to convince the others to go forward with acceleration.
With only 53 percent of the group voting in favour of this option, says Bradley, the investor group was relatively split, and he says that he has heard from several individual investors in this group who are upset with the decision.
In the end, he says, it makes little difference to the overall project, except for reducing its size.
Bradley says that 60 percent of the River Run property is debt-free and owned by Bridgecreek. The remaining 40 percent, including the Vistas lots, are split between the four investor groups. One of those groups has chosen to work with Bridgecreek on attempting to move forward.
"It's fine," says Bradley. "I'm not upset in the slightest." He says that he still intends to secure bank financing to move forward with developing the first phase of the property. The only difference, he says, is that he might have to start at a different part of the property than originally planned.
"I'm committed to the project," he adds. "We're moving forward. I'm not a quitter. I want to see this happen more than anything. If they're not going to be part of it, I'll leave them in the dust."
The Pass Herald asked if he felt that this would negatively affect either the rest of the development or the relationship with the other investor groups. Bradley said that he feels it will not adversely affect either. He says that without the River Run Vistas lots, there are still approximately 225 lots on the property.
Bradley also says that he is considering some new options for portions of the property that are not investor-owned. While he needs to attempt to realize as large a profit as possible for those investors that remain, he says that he has more freedom on the 60 percent of the property that belongs fully to the company.
The options he is considering include an affordable housing component for the community.
Bridgecreek has contracted Viceroy Homes for the eventual hoped-for construction of units on the property. Bradley says that he intends to develop one phase at a time, securing financing and using the remaining profits from one phase to fund another.
He says that his biggest mistake before was attempting to quickly implement the whole project and trying to raise too much money from the get-go, rather than being patient.
It is unknown whether the Vistas investor group will attempt to sell their portion of the property or if they will try to work with another development group in order to either create serviced lots to sell or build homes on them as per the original River Run plan. All options are open to them.