There is more evidence of the real estate problems here in Bay County tonight. For months, the Laketown Wharf condominium and retail complex has been the object of wild rumors, things like indian tribes buying the development, with plans for a future casino.
Tonight, the only thing certain about the development's future is foreclosure.
Last Thursday, Jerry Wallace, the president of Laketown Wharf, LLC, signed-over the resort to Corus Bank, l which originally provided the construction loan to build the development. The papers were filed at the Bay County courthouse Friday morning.
Laketown Wharf was, by far the biggest and most ambitious of the condo projects built on Panama City Beach during the boom in the first half of the decade.
765 condos, massive swimming pools, fountains, light shows, a 650-seat live performance theater. 5-restaurants and thousands of feet of retail space.
Wallace envisioned a place where families could check-in for the week and never leave the property. But construction crews didn't complete the project until late last year, and by then the bottom had fallen out of the condo market.
According to the papers filed last week, only 65-of the 765-condos actually sold to individual owners.
No word yet what the bank has in-mind for the Laketown Wharf project.