Bringing Fore Closure: As Hard Times Drag on, Developers Catch Heat from Lenders Worried About Losing Money in a Weak Real-Estate Market (Feature‪)‬

On a weekend night, EpiCentre lives up to its name. Men, women, girls and boys stroll among its stores and restaurants, sometimes venturing inside or stopping to chat with friends. Occasionally, laughter erupts in the well-lit courtyard beneath the dark sky and all 60 stories of the nearby Bank of America Corporate Center. But beyond the bright lights and bonhomie, a less cheerful saga plays out. Despite the crowds it draws and role it plays as an entertainment hub in the heart of downtown Charlotte, EpiCentre has generated plenty of ill will among the people who created it. Since it opened in late 2008, they've traded accusations--subcontractors claiming they hadn't been paid and the developer and general contractor pointing fingers at each other. Last summer, the project's lender got into the act. Regions Bank, a subsidiary of Birmingham, Ala.-based Regions Financial Corp., started foreclosure proceedings, saying developer Afshin Ghazi's Pacific Avenue LLC and Pacific Avenue II LLC had missed payments on a $90 million loan. To block foreclosure, both companies declared bankruptcy. After several months of stalemate, Regions agreed to sell the loan to a third party.