Developer Announces He’s Pulling The Plans For A Crystal Lagoon In Huntersville
The Latest:
The local developer who proposed a crystal lagoon resort in Huntersville has officially pulled the plans. Jake Palillo sent the following statement to WCCB on why he has decided to pull the project:
“Bi-Part Development is announcing today that they have ended the Lagoona Bay/Waterside project. After a year long struggle to seek rezoning for one of Huntersville’s largest and most unique projects is has come to an end.
The project does not financially work with a reduced plan to meet the current zoning. The financial risk for a project of this size at a time our Country is at the beginning of an economic crisis is to great.
With interest rates for home mortgages at 7.25 to 7.5 and business loans at 8.5 to 9% its crushing everyone. Many Banks are on the brink of failing because of the office building crisis. Banks are no longer lending for large developments and if they are loaning they require 40% to 50% down. Business loan defaults are raising as well as consumer loans, credits cards and car loans. You can’t take interest rates from 4.5% to 8.5%+ and not hurt everyone.
We need to buckle up because financial analyst are all predicting a rough 2024. Our passion for Huntersville has not changed. Its still an amazing community full of great people. I think Huntersville is at a point where they need to finally realize they are no longer a small rural community and figure out what they want to be.
They need to bring in experts and properly plan for the future. They need to understand North Carolina’s growth plan is NO PAIN, NO GAIN, meaning you don’t get new roads or schools until you really feel the pain. Allowing social media to create this plan will end poorly for the Town and its residents.
The State needs to allow “IMPACT FEES” and all the problems for growth will be met. Sadly that is in the hands of the Realtor and Builder Lobbyist hands. Yes… they are the ones making you feel the pain.
As the Lagoona Bay/ Waterside project comes to an end, our love for Huntersville and wanting to make it better doesn’t. The Lake Norman area is home to me and my family.” – Jake Palillo.
Update posted: July 17, 2023:
A local developer is making more changes to a proposed crystal lagoon resort in Huntersville. The developer, Jake Palillo, says the project is being renamed to Waterside (instead of Lagoona Bay Beach Club).
View all the changes below, according to Palillo:
The project will feature several man-made wet pond/mini lakes that will be used for storm detention and common area irrigation.
Waterside will feature “Waterside Village” a mixed use village of retail/restaurants, gathering with condo’s above. It will also feature an eight-acre crystal lagoon. The project is still 263 acres located on both sides of Sam Furr Road. The north section of the project will have 90 single family detached cottage homes replacing the 200 townhomes. The apartments have been reduced to three-story and 300 luxury units down from 320 units with some four-story buildings.
The south section will still feature the Lagoon Bay Beach Club with the lagoon reduced to eight acres from 10.
The Waterside Village has the biggest redesign with the removal of the hotel, convention center and 212 condos. This area now has the 210,000 square feet of retail/restaurants opening onto the large plazas overlooking two man-made lakes and the crystal lagoon.
The condos were reduced from 412 to 200 and they will only be two-stories high instead of three-stories with structured parking. The seven freestanding retail/restaurant buildings will be one-story with no dwelling units above.
The single family lots have been reduced to 227 lots from 250 to allow for a mix of 40 foot, 50 foot, and 60 foot wide custom home lots. These lots are sold to individual home buyers who can design and select from a list of custom home builders. Homes and lots will range from $900K and up.
The developer says they are going to ask for a 60-day delay for Town Staff to review all the changes and send the project back before the Planning Board. The goal, subject to board approval, would be to go before the Planning Board in August with a September Town Board decision.
Original Story Posted: July 4, 2023
HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. – A local developer is making changes to a proposed crystal lagoon resort in Huntersville.
Jake Palillo is pulling the current plan for Lagoona Bay Beach Club.
In a Facebook post, Palillo says he’s modifying it.
The lagoon remains, but he’s eliminating plans for a hotel, convention center, retail, and restaurants.
He also says he’ll reduce the number of housing units from 1,182 to 692.
And he will open up more memberships to people living outside the development.
Opponent Violet Clarke says she isn’t convinced.
“He’s not going to convince anybody with that. Because from the feedback I’ve gotten, we still don’t trust him, we don’t trust, you know, anything he says,” Clarke says.
