news-record.com

GREENSBORO -- Center Pointe, downtown’s ongoing high-rise renovation project, has fallen behind schedule, developer Roy Carroll said this week.

Last April, Carroll said he hoped to unveil his $40 million-plus rehab of the old Wachovia tower downtown this month or next.

Carroll said it would be a couple of weeks before he could say when the first tenants would move into their luxury condos.

“I don’t know if any one item has delayed the schedule,” Carroll said, noting that he has had trouble getting materials such as granite.

Work on the project, which will include a combination of condos, offices and commercial space, began in August 2006. Construction was expected to take two years.

In April, Carroll said the project at the corner of North Elm Street and Friendly Avenue was on schedule, meaning the pace has slowed over the past three months.

Even as the economy has taken a nosedive, the project remains financially sound, the developer said, adding that rising costs have pushed the building’s price “a tick” past $40 million.

Carroll said more than 50 percent of the units have been sold but acknowledged that the building probably will not be sold out when the first tenants move in.

He said tenants would begin moving in on the 14th floor, adding that the lower floors would be occupied as construction is completed.

Carroll said commercial tenants will include an upscale restaurant and perhaps a coffee shop, bank or art gallery.

He said he’s considering proposals from two restaurants but would not identify either.

“It’s not a matter of finding a tenant,” Carroll said, “it’s a matter of finding the right tenant.”

Carroll said work on his penthouse, the two-story space at the top of the building, didn’t start until January.

Construction there probably won’t be completed until next spring.

Contact Donald W. Patterson at 373-7027 or don.patterson@news-record.com