2006 Catalina – another one of Curtis Nelson’s failed projects.
The mini-construction empire of Curtis Nelson – the owner/ developer of the failed project at Ebers and Greene Streets in Ocean Beach – has been taken over by a San Francisco firm, Downkicker Investments Inc.
Ebers and Greene
Downkicker took over $7 Million in projects from Nelco, Nelson’s company, including a project at 2006 Catalina Boulevard. Downkicker CEO, Tracy Smith, told the OB Rag that they have not taken over Nelson’s most controversial project at Ebers and Greene. Ebers will most likely be sold at foreclosure, he told us.
Smith also stated to us:
I had to spend 6 hours doing hard negotiations at the boardroom table with him [Curtis Nelson] to get him to sign them over. They were all in jeopardy of foreclosure and he has lost so many peoples money. My company stepped in and saved the investors. I also conducted a large meeting with a room full of people who had invested in his projects who didn’t know what position they where in and had to sort out the lies and confusion.
I am constantly in talks with the lender on Ebers who I had to negotiate three of the other four properties with. I know that property is in foreclosure and he borrowed and additional 200-300k against the project even after the project had halted and was failing.
Our readers are well aware of Nelson’s shenanigans; just recently the City of San Diego had to step in and take control of the Ebers project, refence it and board it up, back in late November.
Here are the Nelco properties Downkicker took over:
- 2006 Catalina Boulevard, San Diego, CA
- 807 Barr Avenue, San Diego, CA
- 574 W. Mariscal Road, Palm Springs, CA
- 2173 W. El Norte Parkway, Escondido, CA
From Downkicker’s press release:
Downkicker Investments was asked to review the projects after delays and a poor track record of communication from the developer. It didn’t take very long for the company’s CEO, Tracy Smith, to realize that funds had been misappropriated and the projects were nowhere near the standard of workmanship needed in order to bring the prices that are prevalent for those neighborhoods.
The projects were already in the beginning stages of foreclosure, which put all of the investors at risk of losing everything they had invested. Mr. Smith took action and working with Paradyme Funding (the original funding broker) and each individual investor, he formed a plan and with the cooperation of everyone, he took over the projects. Working closely with Paradyme Funding through the lengthy negotiation process with the struggling developer, the projects were able to be salvaged. New terms have been settled upon with the first lenders and all of the equity investors have been saved from the certain loss that the foreclosures would have caused. …
The properties have been saved from foreclosure and construction is underway on the first two projects, the first of which is slated to be on the market in mid December.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Hmm, interesting name, “Downkicker”- and I hope the Rag will keep close tabs on the final disposition of the Ebers and Greene property. I’m hearing some violins here, and while glad to hear of saving investors with respect to the other properties, I’m sure the OB community will be most interested to hear of any future plans on this site. Thanks for keeping us updated :)
What a loser. Good riddance!
Great coverage, thanks for following this!
It seems to me the people who worked on this project and never got paid should be intittled to some kind of payment before investors. At least the investors were not used like slave labor. In a perfect world that would happen. Not a perfect world. Too bad!