BajaNomad

Loreto Bay

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vandenberg - 10-8-2007 at 08:26 PM

Golfcourse back nine nearing completion.
New sign :

golfball collecting.jpg - 29kB

billgow - 10-12-2007 at 11:32 AM

A New York investment group recently purchased a majority interest in Loreto Bay Co., and the Scottsdale-based company's original developer, David Butterfield, no longer is involved in the business.

Citigroup Property Investors owns 75 percent of Loreto Bay, which is developing 8,000 acres in Baja California Sur, Mexico, into an exclusive resort and second-home community.

"This is a financial restructuring with a fabulous partner," said Loreto Bay President Jim Grogan, who confirmed that Butterfield no longer is directly involved in the company's operations.

Grogan, however, remains president and has taken over temporarily as president of Loreto Bay Custom Homes until a replacement can be found. Peter Wardle, who previously held that position, is creating his own small custom-home building firm in the town of Loreto.

http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2007/10/15/story5...

Minnow - 10-12-2007 at 11:43 AM

Yep, like rats leaving a sinking ship.:fire:

bajajudy - 10-16-2007 at 07:12 AM

Citigroup Profit Fell 57% in Third Quarter

That was the headlines in the New York Times this morning.

Phil S - 10-16-2007 at 07:21 AM

Can anyone verify "first hand" that in the past, David Butterfield starts a developent, and somewhere along the way, releases his interest in the development, and it is completed by the developing company. Something about there being two (2) interests in each of his projects he's done in the past years. The "planning company" and the "development company"????
I believe the high rise in Victoria was done this way (and it was finished) and the one they did in Tucson, Arizona was also done the same way. Doesn't look to me, if this is true, that Mr. Butterfield has "bailed out" as some seem to think. If I'm misinformed about this, I accept the correction.

wilderone - 10-16-2007 at 10:16 AM

What a loaded question.
For starters, check this out - Butterfield, the sustainability czar, so concerned about the environment. And this is current news:

Tainted soil standoff over


Shoal Point Management

David Butterfield as frustrated he was unable to remediate contaminated soil from his Shoal Point development on his property near Spectacle Lake.

By Peter Rusland
News Leader Pictorial

Sep 29 2007

Local politicians and developer David Butterfield are relieved to announce Butterfield will be hauling 5,700 tonnes of tainted soil off the Malahat this week.

But neither party is the least bit happy about B.C. government regulations that left the contaminated dirt sitting at his site near Spectacle Lake for eight years.

Work to remove the lead-tainted soil is slated to start Monday or Tuesday and could take about 30 days, depending on weather conditions.

After earlier believing the soil was safe, Butterfield said he’s making the move now because new science shows potential leaching dangers and he won’t risk public health.

“The ministry believed then there was nothing leachable in the soil and we did the tests. (Now) it’s a new kettle of fish. I obviously don’t want to infect anyone in the Cowichan Valley.

“I apologize for the upset.”

MLA John Horgan applauds Butterfield’s action.

“They could stall for a long time but they’re choosing not to,” he said

Butterfield implies he’s a victim of a provincial crisis involving developers getting mixed signals from the environment ministry.

Shoal Point Limited Partnership and Orca Environmental got a 1999 ministry permit to haul the dirt to a 160-acre site near Spectacle Lake from a former battery factory now covered by Butterfield’s Shoal Point condo project in Victoria.

Butterfield and Orca aimed to use scientific methods to remediate the soil on-site with technology that could then be used to treat soil elsewhere.

Trouble was the provincial permit allowed soil dumping but not remediation.

The Cowichan Valley Regional District challenged the remediation in court and won a 2001 court case that blocked that from happening.

But the pile remained.

While a frustrated Butterfield battled to secure permission to get the dirt treated, an equally frustrated CVRD fought to get it out of the Valley.

Mill Bay Director Mike Walker and Shawnigan Lake Director Ken Cossey shared Horgan’s worries lead from the dirt pile could foul south-end waterways.

“I led the charge because of residents in the mobile home park (near Spectacle Lake) and potential contamination in that area,” Walker said during a teleconference with the Pictorial from last week’s Union of B.C. Municipalities conference in Vancouver.

“I kept pressure on the ministry to come to some kind of conclusion with the applicant.”

Sahtlam/Glenora Director Loren Duncan notes talks with the ministry may herald a proposed dirt-treating site at the Evans property on Koksilah Road.

“The CVRD has no licensed site for this to go but we’d like to have one.

“We’re looking at potential for a (soil dump) site with community input.”

But under the current system, frustration over the lack of local authority in these cases will remain.

Butterfield is willing to tell Environment Minster Barry Penner about the flawed permit process surrounding tainted-soil hauling and remediation.

“The province isn’t getting adequate input from the municipality. It’s a farce.”

But he says local government isn’t the only one hurt by the system.

“This is a business disaster story,” says Butterfield, who now faces a $700,000 hauling and testing bill.

“We paid to remediate it and now we’re paying a second company to haul it away. It’s frustrating plus we’ve had seven years of acrimony.”

“… And the contaminants will remain (in the transported soil) at the end of the day,” notes Horgan.

Shoal Point has contracted Hazco to haul the dirt. It will likely go to provincially licensed facilities near Cumberland or Burnaby.

Once the dirt’s gone, crews will do rock drilling, water testing, and soil sampling to ensure nothing leached.

Butterfield has no current plans to sell the site, but wants a provincial certificate of remediation.

Penner was unavailable for comment by Friday’s deadline.

wilderone - 10-16-2007 at 10:48 AM

Your first false premise is that you believe what Butterfield says about himself. Butterfield states that “in 1995-96 he directed the planning and creation of a new sustainable community of 2,400 homes in Tucson ... called the Community of Civano.” He also described his involvement with Civano, he says “in 1995-96, as the Town Founder he directed the planning of a new sustainable community of 2,400 homes ... called Civano.” In fact, the planning of Civano began in 1991 when the City of Tucson approved rezoning to be developed into a master-planned community, completed several planning and marketing studies, and sought out a master developer who would be interested in, capable of the project. After years of preliminary planning, the city selected Case Enterprises as Civano’s master developer in 1996. Case purchased the land from the state land trust for $2.7 million and began to create Civano. Other joint venture partners were the Arizona Energy Office, the Metropolitan Energy Commission and the State Land Trust, Fannie Mae and yes, the Trust for Sustainable Development. But Butterfield is never mentioned in any article describing the origins of Civano and any of the big players. There were 27 consultants involved as well.

By 1999, Civano was being developed by The Community of Civano, LLC, in collaboration with the City of Tucson. While the city has invested $3 million for sewer and water infrastructure in the community, it expects to profit from this investment. The public funds are expected to generate $10 million for the city through taxes and permit fees.
The city will also receive 10 percent of Civano’s profits as funds earmarked for sustainable development and reinvestment in Tucson’s central city. Both parts of the public-private partnership should profit as Civano becomes a living community. [Sound familiar??]

Another description, written in July 2007 (note that it states Civano is now just half completen and it’s only 1/3 the size of LB): “At the far southern edge of Tucson, Arizona, sits Civano, planned as an 800-acre new town that melds new urbanism and ecological design. The southern half of the first neighborhood is reminiscent of Radburn, with dead-end streets backing onto a continuous open space spine. Plans call for an eventual 1,600 households (about 5,000 people). Construction, which began in 1999, is half complete.
The original master plan for the entire site, the Tucson Solar Village Development Plan, was created in 1991 for land that was to be donated by the State Land Department. Five years later, the city sold the land to a developer, a joint venture called The Community of Civano. The master plan is the work of the Los Angeles-based new urbanist firm of Moule & Polyzoides.
Civano features energy-efficient, adobe-style housing, surrounded by desert-tolerant plants. Front lawns are forbidden. Building materials include rammed earth and straw bales, and tanks and cisterns are used for water conservation. Porches and narrow streets give the community a new urbanist feeling--but without significant mixed use to date, Civano is a largely residential area, although there is new business development nearby.
Like all such developments, this one has its share of tensions, exemplified by the two-car garages fitted with solar panels and long commuter distances for most residents.” (All Business, By Forsyth, Ann,Crewe, Katherine, Publication: Date: Sunday, July 1 2007.)

The article linked below tells who’s who, and David Butterfield is not among them. If Butterfield played a part in the planning of Civano, it was apparently not noteworthy enough to be included within this status report of one of the more significant planners. See http://www.edcmag.com/CDA/Archives/ff1011c097697010VgnVCM100... You will see much of the same hyperbole in that article as used by the Loreto Bay people. And see http://www.sustainable.org/casestudies/SIA_PDFs/SIA_arizona.... Butterfield and Grogan are fringe players, hoping to copy-cat themselves into a successful model of their own. Yes, the Trust for Sustainable Development is mentioned, but Case Enterprises doesn’t seem to think the contributions of this “partner” are worthy of mention in their report. And in 2000, Fannie Mae became the sole owner of the project through its American Communities Fund.

So, back in 1995-96, when the fur was flying, for that relatively short period of time (given that the project began in 1992 and is still ongoing – some 15 years later), Butterfield may have been involved, but certainly, calling himself the Town Founder is a lie.

As to Shoal Point, Butterfield was the owner and developer, and also partly owned an environmental company, Orca Environmental Services, which was treating contaminated soil from the site. Check this out: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2001/01/07/victoria_soil01010...
Described by Read Jones Christoffersen, Design Engineers:
“The building, which uses water from deep aquifers as its primary heating and cooling source, is, according to the Rocky Mountain Institute, one of the most energy-efficient in North America. Low-energy glass, with suites designed to take advantage of solar heating, and greenhouse gardens on the rooftops of the towers, are other sustainable features of this most successful condominium project.
Vital Statistics: Three phase development, with towers of 13, 10, and 9 storeys [sic] over two levels of underground parking; 161 luxury residential suites including 10 live/work residences, and 50,000 sq. ft. of commercial space on two floors; Total area of 450,000 sq. ft.
Architect: Paul Merrick Architects/Wagg and Hambleton Architects
Developer: Huron Street Development Ltd.
Awards: 2002 National SAM Award”

Butterfield likes to involve himself in creating the subsidiary companies that the major developer must deal with, thus double-dealing himself. Check out International Composting Corporation, which was “founded to become a world leader in the composing industry. From the LB Inaugural Sustainability Report: “Loreto Bay Co. [Butterfield] has contracted ICC [Butterfield] to provide state of the art in vessel technology and expertise.” Interesting - In 2006 the Loreto Bay Foundation gave Sustainable Community Advisors (Who are these people?) $24,000 for a “compost feasibility assessment in Loreto to address vegetative waste from the town of Loreto and the Nopolo development” Someone should look into this expenditure and find out who exactly got what and, personally, I’d like to read the compost feasibility assessment. But I digress.

Check it out – Butterfield, the Director:
http://www.internationalcomposting.com/frames-investor.html
“ICC was incorporated in 2002 to work in concert with its parent company, Orca. Orca is involved in creating environmental solutions for industry. In addition to creating ICC's composting technology, Orca runs Canterra - a soil remediation company - and is actively involved in waste to energy issues. ... We have also recently begun expansions into the UK and Mexico . By concentrating on the growing markets of composting, ICC has identified profitable business opportunities.”

So now he's had enough of Loreto Bay. I guess with all his appointments as chairman of this, and director of that, and on so many boards and committees, he just doesn't have the time for such commitments. Now it's Grogan and CitiGroup and SDE Business Partnering to clean up the chaos - none of whom have any experience building an new urbanist, sustainable, Mexican colonial, authentic, resort such as LB.

cajhawk - 10-16-2007 at 11:01 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Phil S
Can anyone verify "first hand" that in the past, David Butterfield starts a developent, and somewhere along the way, releases his interest in the development, and it is completed by the developing company. Something about there being two (2) interests in each of his projects he's done in the past years. The "planning company" and the "development company"????
I believe the high rise in Victoria was done this way (and it was finished) and the one they did in Tucson, Arizona was also done the same way. Doesn't look to me, if this is true, that Mr. Butterfield has "bailed out" as some seem to think. If I'm misinformed about this, I accept the correction.


David Butterfield is head of the Trust for Sustainable Development, which makes the overall plan for a large masterplan. What he did at Loreto Bay is to partner with the Loreto Bay Company to build it as well. Not that uncommon to have one company responsible for the Master Plan and another to be the builder. The TSD always "bails out" by design , but Butterfield also stepped down as Chairman of the Board at Loreto Bay Builders.

Phil S - 10-16-2007 at 12:14 PM

cajhawk. Thank you for that information. Makes it easier to view the "whole picture"
Wilderone. Thanks for the excellent report on David Butterfield with the Tucson Az. development. The information is sort of overwhelming for me to digest. Will have to read it again after a few days. Again thanks for researching that data for me. How is that obtainable??? Can I do it? Like maybe google search for Butterfield, or what source did you use????
good work.

wilderone - 10-16-2007 at 03:03 PM

According to filings with the Arizona Real Estate Dept., the Developer is TSD Loreto Partners, a limited partnership. The General Partner of the Limited Partnership is the Trust For Sustainable Development Loreto SA de CV. The officers and directors of the General Partner are Grogan, CEO; Butterfield, Chairman; Ruzicka, Treasurer. The Limited Partners are Baja Developments, LLC organized under the laws of NY, owns 49.8% of the units in the Limited Partnership; The Trust for Sustainable Development, Inc, and Baja Developments, LP which also owns 49.8% of the units in the Limited Partnership. The name of the licensed Arizona real estate broker through whom brokerage services will take place is Loreto Bay Company - designated broker Edwin Ricketts.

“The Trust for Sustainable Development is a not-for-profit corporation that identifies projects with the potential to implement sustainable strategies and then invests in pre-development project preparation (often valued at more than one million dollars USD) for large-scale developments. The Trust researches, identifies and finances exciting, sustainable project ideas to bring them to fruition. As the project nears start-up, the Trust creates a for-profit company to develop the community (or building). The for-profit company acts as Master Developer and oversees permitting, design and sale of building lots. It is this business model that ensures the sustainable strategies planned for will, in fact, be implemented in the physical development.”

Butterfield is on the Board of Directors of Loreto Bay Foundation;
he’s Director of Trust for Sustainable Forestry (which collaborates with Living Forest Communities (i.e., Doug Makaroff – who has been Butterfield’s partner in everything Butterfield does) which purchases forest land, and then develops home sites on them couched within the guise of forest conservation [“The trust works this way, Makaroff said: the organization buys up forestland and tries to cluster the density of the residences.”]. And Butterfield is Director of International Composting Corporation.

Chaos, destruction, turmoil - his work at LB is done.

It's all online - just Google it. More info than you really want to know. His hippie picture is there, his US-Mexico Chamber of Commerce (a non-profit) task force position - what else - sustainable development (housing); and Grogan is on the Board of Directors for US-Mex. Chamber of Commerce. They all self-promote each other - looks good in the bio. And even though he's now turned his back on all the people he made promises to, is walking away from all the commitments he made, I'll bet he'll crow that he was the founder of the Villages of Loreto Bay - the largest sustainable resort project in North America.
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