Crisp, who is having trouble making the payments on a few homes, "obtains" a letter of credit for $1.8 billion.
From the Bakersfield Californain:
Project developer David Crisp received a letter of intent for a $1.8 billion line of credit for the University Towers project at Cal State Bakersfield.
In a letter, investment firm Neuflithz Wisenthall & Schlumberger said it would extend the credit line for a 10-year term with a 5.8 percent interest per year.
Crisp shared the letter with The Californian Thursday.
Friday morning, Crisp said the loan terms are still being negotiated.
"Do I feel confident about this as a funding source? Yes, I do, 110 percent," Crisp said. "I'm confident with people that are working on it, I'm confident that it will get done."
Crisp hopes to finalize the financing within the next five to six weeks.
Tim Mahoney, an independent broker based in Oklahoma who's working with Crisp on financing the towers, said everything is going well with the deal. Financing terms are confidential, he said, adding they are dealing with "high-level financiers from Europe." Neuflithz Wisenthall & Schlumberger was incorporated in Delaware in 1989, according to the Delaware Secretary of State's Web site. On Neuflithz's site, clicking the "Contact us" button launches an e-mail window. It appears the e-mail will be sent to an address in the United Arab Emirates.
The company acts as a credit leasing agent and fiduciary trustee for "corporations and individuals who, for many and varied reasons, wish to do so on the private financial markets rather than through the traditional banking sources, undertaking to conduct 'due diligence' in such cases when an independent credit leasing agent or fiduciary trustee are called for, through its bankers in Luxembourg and Switzerland, from whom full banking references are available by previous arrangement."
22 comments:
"Do we have letters of interest? Yes, we have 700 letters of interest from people who want to buy," he said in a Thursday interview.
_________________________________
Why would I believe a guy who also said his companies business was doing great and sales were great - Now they no longer exist?
He said there were no investigations - now the DRE files charges against Cole?
Numerous homes in some stage of foreclosure.
5.8% that is only 50 bps above LIBOR, their is no spread for the risk.
This whole thing is laughable.
The last desperate gasp of a failed fraudster. Do the math. Say half the cost is the condo tower. $0.9b divided by 524 equals $1.7m each condos. This is just the old Irish lottery ticket con on the local banks. He shows them the letter and says he needs a bridge for a few weeks and rips them off for the 10-20 mil he needs to skip the counry.
Lines of credit for even good borrowers is around 8% from an A paper lender. Crisp is full of shit again. I hope his European source does not mean from individuals south of Naples, we may never hear from Crisp again if he pisses those guys off.
His issues were apparent when he shared his motto with the paper last year: You got to fake it to make it. What an idiot.
Maybe Crisp new benefactor should be made aware of his previous statements to the press. Crisp is so full of shit.
Bakersfield Bubble said...
5.8% that is only 50 bps above LIBOR, their is no spread for the risk.
This whole thing is laughable.
* * *
That's the first thing that crossed my mind, too. There is no risk premium built into this.
I smell a rat.
Somebody is scamming somebody.
Man the Californian sure is a hot steaming piece of 'investigatve journalism'.
They did a lot less fact-checking than you did. They certainly know how to apply lipstick to a sus domestica ;-)
I am less impressed that someone had to send information about the proposed refinery expansion to the LA Times to get it into the public realm that the new process will involve using large quantities of hydrogen fluoride... at a company that can't control its unlanned toxic emissions events *right now*.
Keep up the good work BB!!! you rock!
I work in commercial RE, and it's not that uncommon to see European companies making stupid bets in regional, US markets. So I'm inclined to believe that a letter of intent from a European lender is possible.
However, this is total BS. I've seen the actual budget for this project, and it's around $300MM.
Why would Crisp have a $1.8B letter of credit. Why in the world would anyone fund $1.8B for a single project. Vertical steel frame construction costs about $300 PSF. Let's assume that the each floor of the towers is about 35 M SF, which is very big. Most downtown Los Angeles buildings are between 30M and 50M SF per floor. You could effectively build 150 floors with that kind of loan? I think the towers will be less than 10 floors.
This is just unbelievable. I might have believed this if he would have said $40MM, but $1.8B is laughable.
The company I work for originates commercial real estate loans and buys commercial real estate loans. Our entire portfolio, which consists of millions of square feet of property is probably equatl to $1.8B.
What if the loan were fully funded. They would be paying $104MM a year in interest.
Crisp would have to perpetrate a lot of mortgage fraud to pay that kind of interest.
If it were me, I'd check that letter very closely around the area where it says "amount of credit line not to exceed $1,800"..... for white out marks. Just a thought. I'll be out of the office this week. Thanks, Inspector Fuzzy
"It appears the e-mail will be sent to an address in the United Arab Emirates." Curioser and curioser. Maybe the financers are actually hoping for failure and then they can take over the property and own some of the U.S. Is Cal State a guarantor on the loan? I would think that would be public record - if we could find it.
David Crisp cannot even keep the houses he owns now out of foreclosure and now he is running around with his letter of credit. He just has to try to keep the bullshit flying. Thank God most of the population of Bakersfield already wears boots.
Go on the NWS website and click on "Other Information" and share your conclusions. And who is Tim Mahoney of Oklahoma.
Crisp last statement's remind me of Hitler's last statement's in his bunker. Does anybody know if David Crisp has a basement?
I agree that it makes no sense. I used to worc for Crisp. What I can tell you is that he honestly believed that seven oaks would hit a uniform 350 to 400 per square foot. THis is why he personally purchased the homes in seven oaks. He did live in his Heaton house for well over a year. He then lived in Grimshaw for close to a year. He also did reside in New Quay. New Quay was purchased from a bankruptcy sell from a Doctor who had to let it go. That is why he bought it for 1.7 with approx 250 k down and and was able to refi it with a second mtg and pull cash out. At the time of purchase it was worth over the 1.7 million as the owner of BMW of Bakersfield was bidding against Crisp for that home. The plane that was used for the advertizing was simply prepaid lease hours. 25 hours for 250k. He never owned a jet. He leased the red ferrari and made payments on it for about a year and sold it. The 500k mercedes he made payments on for a year and a half and sold. The vehicles were in the copmany name and paid for by the copmany. Unless I am mistaken he did show a net income on taxes(as did cole) for about 975k for the year(2006). (most of which I am sure was made in the first half of the year) I believe his current plight is little more than poor management of money and ill placed confidense in the seven oaks developement and the continued strength of the bakersfield market. Anyhow, at the time that all this stuff was purchased his income was such that the debt could legitamitely be supported (albeit with little left for reserves). With the current decline in both property values as well as number of transactions in bakersfield (not to mentioned diminished public opinion) Crisps income is no dought significantly less than it weas in the first half of 2006. With that being said, running a real estate business with little to no reserves in a declining market is exactly what we see Crisp doing. Simply put, the money in is obviously less than the money out and hense the liquidation of cars and the foreclosures. Also, i know that in excess of two million was spent on architects fees, donations to cal state and other items associated with the towers project. Surely that two million would have better served the company if it were there now in reserves. From formerly knowing Crisp I can honestly say that the man was or is chasing a pipe dream in the towers, and while they are a great idea, they need to be done properly and built to the right magnitude by the right firm (i.e. an experienced one). Anyhow, i dont mean to ramble, I just hope this sheds some light on the situation.
Thanks anon (C&C insider)!
Since he so generously shared the letter with the TBC, maybe they could publish a picture of it.
Audio interview with David Crisp, from one year ago (how things change in one year...)
http://tinyurl.com/28nk7m
"the things I do for clients, I mean, I do things for clients that are UN-NORMAL, I mean" blah-blah-blah.
Yeah, quite the genius there... He's another George Bush when it comes to his oral communication (speaking) skills.
Does this sound familiar? It's from back when TBC helped them deny all that nasty gossip:
"Last month, Crisp & Cole Real Estate was approved by an investor for a $10 million loan, according to a letter the real estate company shared with The Californian."
Only now their letters of intent are for 1.8 billion (for a project that is supposed to cost 400 million?)
Wow, I just had a flashback to the final scene of "It's a Wonderful Life", where George Bailey's rich friend from college (named Sam Wainwright) telegraphs a L.O.C. to bail him out of his troubles! Maybe Crisp went to high school with some rich exchange student from UAE? LOL!
Wonder if David Crisp's been watching "It's a Wonderful Life" lately? If so, does he identify more with George, or with Mr Potter?
http://tinyurl.com/2ky2xp
Don't know about Wonderful Life, but I did just read that B-town is #11 in the Country for business. Maybe he's on to something with his commercial property after all. I still don't get the post I read somewhere that he bought it and quit claimed it back to bynum, though. Why would someone do that?
Post a Comment