Philly Luxury Goes Kaput

From Alan J. Heavans at the Philadelphia Inquirer:
American Loft was to be the centerpiece of a booming real estate empire, an 11-story, 40-unit luxury condominium project at North American and Brown Streets in Northern Liberties.
Now, the 63,000-square-foot, 21st century mid-rise designed by architect Winka Dubbeldam and looming over a hodgepodge of 19th-century rowhouses, warehouses, and vacant lots, is headed to Philadelphia sheriff's sale.
The developer is Gagandeep Lakhmna. His company is CREI - Creating Real Estate Innovations. American Loft is just one of his several projects under way or planned for Northern Liberties, where working-class grit meets urban chic these days and the future seems bright.
Lakhmna was unable to sell enough units priced at $329,000 to $1,479,000 and "agreed to cede control" of the project to the lender, Abington Bank, which is owed "an aggregate outstanding balance of $15.1 million." That would be for three construction loans for American Loft, according to a statement from the bank.
The building - 38 condos and two townhouses - stands empty. A crew, employed by the bank to complete improvements to the project before the sale, worked outside the lower rear level of American Loft last week.
The "upset price" - the minimum the bank will accept for the property based on an appraisal and enough to cover costs and liens - is $15,440,167, according to the legal notice. Calls to the main number of CREI bounced to a voice mail account at Re/Max City Space, the real estate firm Lakhmna, 37, set up to market and sell his properties.
Calls and e-mail to Andrea Boetler, who is listed as CREI's sales director, were not returned.
Lakhmna, who came to Philadelphia in 1993 and obtained an M.B.A. at Drexel, reportedly is in India.
Note: Housing that is not realistically priced in this market will not sell.