Latta Pavilion Is Sick

March 19, 2008

Lynnsy Logue, The Real Estate Lady and CondoCanDo, Charlotte, NC

Chapter Two. Now you See It, Now You Don’t…This may require several parts but I feel compelled to talk about what I have read and ultimately who I will talk to about this and what links I can provide you the reader, the listener, the real estate consumer. This is serious. It is Radon. I think I will simply publish the whole story as it appeared in the Business Journal. I have been waiting for a follow up from someone…a newspaper, a radio report, a television, but nothing as of this date.I am going to put this on my blog as well. And will do my best to follow this through. This addresses my core concern…public health, public safety, consumer awareness.I will present the whole article as it appeared on February 22, 2008. Counting this, there will be five parts:
1.Latta Pavilion Is Sick
2.Taking Measure
3.Solving The Problem
4.Still Selling
5.Getting a Read on Radon
And as there is follow up, it will be posted here.
Here goes:Latta Pavilion is sick.
A colorless, odorless and potentially lethal gas has invaded the high-profile Dilworth complex, which is populated by condo owners, office workers, shoppers and two medical practices.
And while Latta Pavilion developer Grubb Properties Inc. promises to clean up the radon that is coursing through the building at levels at least twice what is considered safe, there's still a question about what exactly is causing the problem.
Getting rid of the gas is not going to be easy. Neither will be deciding who is ultimately responsible. And for owners of condos in the six-year-old building, the question isn't just how their property values are going to be affected. There's also concern about how long they've been exposed to the gas, which the Environmental Protection Agency says is the second-leading cause of lung cancer behind smoking.
The level of radon found at Latta Pavilion is anything but typical for Charlotte, which was precisely why it had gone undetected. No one was looking.
Charlotte developer Clay Grubb, president of Grubb Properties, says he got the call regarding high radon readings at Latta Pavilion, which includes the 1315 East Blvd. condo building, just before the holidays.
"At first, we didn't believe it," he says.
The company had sold more than 250 condos in the complex since it opened in 2002. None of the buyers had tested for radon. Neither had any of the office or retail tenants that occupy the first two floors of the building at East Boulevard and Scott Avenue.
It wasn't until a potential corporate client inquired about a condo that radon was on anyone's checklist. The company is based in the Northeast, where radon testing is part of the normal real estate purchase process.
The company's testing found radon. Lots of it.
Coming Up: Taking Measure.