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Part Three Solving The Problem...
Solving
the problem
Grubb
is involved in a mediation process with Rodgers Builders, the executive
board of the Latta
Pavilion Condominium Owners Association Inc. and the
project's designer, Charlotte-based FMK
Architects.
"We
have consulted with numerous experts and coordinated professional tests of
many units as well as overall airflow in the building," the
homeowners association said in a statement sent to the Charlotte
Business Journal this week. "Based on what the experts
tell us, we believe the primary problem is insufficient airflow between
the units and the outside environment."
Association
member Buck Lawrimore, owner of a communications firm who is acting as the
group's spokesman, declines to comment on the issue.
In
the written statement, the association says it's working with Grubb and
Rodgers Builders to find a solution. So far, the focus is on installing
fans that would funnel the gas out of the building. The cost: $5,000 per
unit, or $1.3 million.
Grubb
pledges that tenants won't bear any of the expense, but it's not clear who
will.
Grubb
believes a faulty ventilation system designed by FMK is the cause of the
radon problems.
Not
so fast, says Allan McGuire, managing principal at the architectural firm.
He says his company designed Latta Pavilion to meet the
Charlotte-Mecklenburg building codes, and it was constructed accordingly.
"Nothing is unique about the Latta Pavilion system that would allow
it to contain radon over other systems we have done."
Fong
says he's unaware of any similar problem in a building in
Charlotte
. He's seen a few cases of high readings in buildings in
Gastonia
and Cherryville where soil conditions are more conducive to creating radon
emissions.
McGuire
says Grubb is ultimately responsible for delivering a safe building.
Rodgers
Builders executives did not return calls.
"It's
a weird, perfect storm of strange occurrences that are causing this,"
says Sandy Kindbom, who heads the uptown office of Allen
Tate Realtors. Tate is the primary sales
representative for Latta Pavilion and
1315 East Blvd.
, which was converted to condos from apartments in 2005.
Caught
up in that storm are condo owners such as Brian Cowman, who moved into his
$370,000 Latta Pavilion unit a couple of months ago, before the radon
issue came to light.
Cowman
says he's not concerned about the short-term health impact. He is worried
about the potential damage to the value of his unit. "If you have
place one and place two and there is an issue at one, you are going to
choose place two."
There
are currently 22 units in Latta Pavilion and the adjacent
1315 East Blvd.
building listed for sale on the Multiple Listing Service, with prices
ranging from $194,000 for a one-bedroom unit to $610,000 for a two-bedroom
penthouse.
While
residents do have a justifiable concern about resale values,
North Carolina
is a "buyer beware" state, says Thomas Miller, general counsel
for the N.C. Real Estate Commission in
Raleigh
.
The
state's real estate license law imposes upon real estate agents the duty
to disclose material facts about the properties they list. But those rules
do not apply to the seller.
Next:
Still Selling
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