Make a sweetsale - Carolina Weekly Newspapers

H1N1 vaccine
slow to reach
Charlotte
It could be December before shot is
widely available here
by Brian Carlton
brian@thecharlotteweekly.com
It could be December before the H1N1 flu vaccine
is widely available in Mecklenburg County, according to
the North Carolina Department of Health and Human
Services.
“Everybody’s getting less than expected. It’s coming,
but it’s limited,” said Amy Caruso, spokeswoman of the
department’s immunization branch.
As of Oct. 26, the Mecklenburg County Health
Department and Presbyterian Healthcare had received
11,000 of the 440,000 vaccine doses they’re expecting.
The county’s other major health care provider, Carolinas
HealthCare System, didn’t have an up-to-date count and
wouldn’t offer an estimate.
North Carolina has ordered 441,200 vaccine doses
for health departments in its 100 counties. Mecklenburg
County’s share of the order is about 40,000 doses,
Caruso said. So far, the county has received 7,000 doses,
6,000 of which were given to health care workers and
first responders.
“We’re not getting enough to make a dent in the population,”
Mecklenburg County Health Department Public
(more on page 11)
Nearly two weeks after Carolina First Bank began
foreclosure proceedings against it, Crosland officials
are wondering why.
Carolina First Bank wants to foreclose on the Charlotte
real estate company’s Blockbuster store at 9016
Providence Road and 13 vacant acres at the southeast
corner of Ardrey Kell and Rea roads. Crosland
was holding the land for possible expansion of the
Blakeney shopping center.
Carolina First filed for foreclosure in Mecklenburg
County District Court on Oct. 19.
“We’re disappointed that Carolina First chose to
take this action, but we’ll continue to work toward
an appropriate resolution,” Crosland spokesman Bill
Norton said, noting that the company had been negotiating
with the bank and many of its other lenders to
restructure several loans.
“This is a course of action that all developers are
taking, and the overwhelming majority of our lenders
are cooperating with us to restructure such loans,”
Norton said.
He admitted that the company has missed payments
on the loan but had been negotiating with the bank to
solve the problem. In the midst of negotiations, Carolina
First started foreclosure proceedings, he said.
As of Oct. 26, Crosland’s asset portfolio and current
projects have a market value of an estimated $1.5 billion,
according to company records. Carolina First is the only
lender filing foreclosure proceedings against Crosland.
Community
Bank foreclosing on land near Blakeney
by Brian Carlton
brian@thecharlotteweekly.com
Crosland just finished leasing the third phase of
Blakeney. It announced Oct. 12 that Creative By Nature
Home and Verve Fitness will occupy the shopping center’s
final two spaces. Creative By Nature already has
moved in. The shopping center won’t be affected by the
foreclosure filing and the Blockbuster store won’t close
as a result of the foreclosure proceedings, Norton said.
Carolina First, meanwhile, has its own financial
issues. South Financial Group Inc., Carolina First’s
parent company, reported a $340.8 million net loss for
the third quarter. The group also reported $431.8 million
in nonperforming loan balances, compared with
$464.9 million at the end of June.
Bank officials didn’t respond to multiple requests for
comment by press time. A date hasn’t been set for a judge
to consider the foreclosure. Norton said Crosland still is
trying to reach an agreement with Carolina First. q
Green light for Elm Lane traffic light
Traffic lights were
installed last week
at the intersection
of Elm Lane and
Bevington Place
alongside Four Mile
Creek Greenway
in south Charlotte.
Regan White/SCW photo
Pictured above,
crews painted arrows onto the turn lanes of Bevington Place,
Oct. 24. According to Charles Able of the Charlotte Department
of Transportation, the weather will determine when the
lights are operational. “If we have good weather, then the light
will be operational by sometime next week, Nov. 5-6. If the
weather’s bad, then we’ll have to push it back another week to
Nov. 12-13,” Able said. q
www.thecharlotteweekly.com
late nights
at the office
traffic jam
insomnia
Cotswold Village
106 South Sharon Amity
(704) 820-6129
Stonecrest Shopping Center
7926 Rea Road
(704) 269-4976
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South Charlotte Weekly • Oct. 30-Nov. 5, 2009 • Page 3