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GREENSBORO — Look for the first tenants to begin occupying the long-awaited Center Pointe condo project within the next 30 days.

“I definitely think we can make that goal,” developer Roy Carroll told members of the Kiwanis Club of Greensboro on Thursday. “We’ve got units ready. We’ve just got all these inspections.”

Completion of the $40 million rehab of the old Wachovia Bank building at North Elm and Friendly Avenue downtown has taken significantly longer than expected.

“Believe it or not, we are close to completing it,” Carroll told the civic club members. “We’re putting the finishing touches on it.”

Last April, Carroll said the project was on schedule, adding that he hoped the first buyers could move into the luxury condos in July or August.

But since then, progress has slowed significantly.

Carroll has said he couldn’t identify “any one item” that has delayed the schedule. Work began on the project in August 2006 and was expected to take two years.

“It’s not as clean as (new) construction,” Carroll said of the progress. “Buyers have been very patient.”

Carroll said Thursday that “roughly 50 percent” of the units have been sold, basically the same percentage he gave when asked last July about sales figures.

“We’ve been very fortunate,” Carroll said, noting the downturn in the economy. “We’ve had very few buyers fall out.”

Carroll used Thursday’s talk to pitch some of Center Pointe’s features: valet parking, laundry service, cat-feeding and dog-walking services, grocery delivery, room service from the first-floor restaurant and a fitness center with personal trainers.

Carroll said the center will have a rock-climbing wall that operates on a conveyor belt for people who are afraid of heights.

As the first tenants move in, work will continue on unfinished floors.

The one-, two- and three-bedroom condos will range in price from $180,000 to $600,000. Custom penthouses on the 15th and 16th floors will begin at $1.5 million.

Carroll’s penthouse will occupy the 17th floor.

Carroll also talked about his interest in buying 4 acres in the former Bellemeade Village project between Smith Street and Battleground Avenue. He wants to build 200 apartments there but isn’t ready “to pull the trigger” on the deal.

His preliminary plans for the site, owned by Jim and Steve Jones, calls for two four-story buildings with courtyards in the center and parking on the perimeter of the property.

He said he has no price tag for the possible project.

“Everybody is on hold right now,” Carroll said, referring to the economic downturn. “It’s not time to break ground.”

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