THURSDAY
HUNGER RIDERS: Motorcycle event helps local causes. 1B
September 16, 2010 127th year No. 259
ANIMAL CRUELTY: Two face charges after neglected dogs are found. 1B
www.hpe.com High Point, N.C.
MAN OF STEELE: HiToms name new head coach. 1D
50 Cents Daily $1.25 Sundays
CAMPUS EXPANSION High Point University sets sights on basketball arena
Kathy Johnson joined First Mortgage Corp. as a home loan consultant. She has been in the mortgage industry for more than 26 years.
BY DAVID NIVENS ENTERPRISE STAFF WRITER
HIGH POINT – The next big thing at High Point University could be a $60 million, 5,500-seat basketball arena. President Nido R. Qubein added the project to the campus expansion list Wednesday at a meeting attended by university and community leaders. The list also includes a building for a new $50 million health science program, a $30 million library and other upgrades as enrollment grows to 5,000 students by 2017. It could take as long as four years to find a site and to build the arena, Qubein said, because of other priorities. “We will build a state-ofthe-art, NBA-type athletic arena,” Qubein said. “We have to build the science school first and take care of the residency needs.” The arena also would be used for other large gatherings, including graduations. “When it rains at graduation, we just give out ponchos,” Qubein said. “We have to do something else.” The next phase of growth and improvements will boost the campus program to $2.1 billion over 10 years.
INSIDE
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PIECE OF THE PIE: Arts council announces allocations. 1B
OBITUARIES
SPECIAL | HPE
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Artist’s rendering of planned High Point University basketball arena. The health science school will include a pharmacy program that became available when the University of North Carolina at Greensboro’s plans did not develop. Other programs include physician assistant,
CAMPUS PLANS
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Here is the breakdown of investment for the expanded $2.1 billion High Point University development plan: • Academics: $600 million • Housing: $300 million • Student Life: $250 million
• Scholarships: $200 million • Athletics: $200 million • Endowment: $200 million • Campus Improvements: $150 million • Technology: $100 million • Campus Expansion: $100 million
HPU, 2A
State restores funding to shelter BY PAT KIMBROUGH ENTERPRISE STAFF WRITER
HIGH POINT – A local program for victims of domestic violence that faced a major funding cut has gotten a reprieve. Family Service of the Piedmont representatives were recently notified by state officials that a key grant for Carpenter House in High Point, which provides emergency housing for women and children fleeing domestic violence, has been restored. The N.C. Council for Women, which distributes funds allocated by the N.C. General Assembly for domestic violence programs
across the state, initially declared it would give Family Service money for only one shelter instead of the two it operates – one in Greensboro and one in High Point. After Family Service representatives contacted state lawmakers, the Council for Women agreed to distribute about $93,000 for both shelters retroactive to July 1. In a letter to Family Service, the agency acknowledged it had not given adequate notice for the change. “We’re very excited about this,” said Family Service President and CEO Tom Campbell. “I appreciate everybody’s support, particularly the legislators. They really stepped
up to make sure we can continue to provide services to victims of domestic violence.” A letter to Campbell from Jill Dinwiddie, the Council for Women’s executive director, stated the agency will get only a single allocation for the 2011-12 fiscal year unless state law governing the grants is changed. “The council maintains that allocation of one grant per county continues to be the appropriate administration of the grant funds,” Dinwiddie wrote. Campbell said he and others plan to continue lobbying the Joint Legislative Committee on Domestic
Violence to take into account the population of areas where shelters are located when allocating funding. Guilford County is unusual, since it has shelters in two cities, both of which are seeing heavy demand. In addition to emergency shelter, both provide counseling and transitional housing services. “What we’ll be doing is working with the legislators to make sure the wording for the general statute around funding is clear,” Campbell said. “It gives us time to do some work on that front.” pkimbrough@hpe.com | 888-3531
World Market Center defaults on loans BY TIM O’REILEY LAS VEGAS BUSINESS PRESS
LAS VEGAS – Plagued by declining occupancy and lower rents from tenants who stay, the World Market Center has defaulted on the mortgages covering two of its three massive towers. The Las Vegas furniture market debuted five years ago as the main rival to the 100-year-old High Point Market, which remains the world’s largest home furnishings trade show. The Las Vegas trade show is housed in the World Market Center complex. A year ago, World Market Center informed the servicing agents for the two loans, totaling $564.7 million, that its declining cash flow would force it to skip payments within months. The default occurred in April, although it was only recently disclosed
WHO’S NEWS
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FILE | AP
The exterior of the World Market Center near downtown Las Vegas in 2005. by outside companies that track commercial loan defaults. In a July newsletter, credit rating agency Moody’s Investors Service listed the two buildings, A and B, as being in foreclosure proceedings. But in a report last month,
research service Realpoint said that lenders had extended a forbearance agreement, through which they voluntarily held off on any repossession actions, through Aug. 31. In a statement Tuesday, World Market Center man-
agement denied foreclosure proceedings were under way. “Certain parties have been misrepresenting this fact for months despite our notice to them,” the statement said. Building C, the other component of the World Market Center, opened in July 2008, after the recession had set in and financial markets had largely dried up. As a result, World Market Center could not find a long-term mortgage to replace the $488 million construction loan secured in December 2006. Typically, construction loans come due in full after five years. But World Market Center declined to comment on the loan or other aspects of its financial condition. A Realpoint report said that several debt-restructuring proposals had been traded between World Market Center, controlled by developer Jack Kashani and the New York-
YOUR COMMUNITY. YOUR NEWSPAPER.
based Related Cos., and the agent representing the lenders, but no deals had been reached. During the past couple of years, distressed real estate has become common in Las Vegas in both the residential and commercial sectors. At $2.9 billion, the Las Vegas valley has the nation’s secondhighest value of delinquencies after New York for loans includedinfinancingvehicles called commercial mortgagebacked securities, according to a Realpoint tally. But problems for the World Market Center would be a particularly sharp sting because community leaders often held it up as an example of the economic diversification the valley’s economy badly needs. High Point Enterprise Staff Writer Paul Johnson contributed to this article.
Dorothy Bass, 76 Clifton Chambers, 72 Larry Cowan, 49 Richard Crotts, 76 Chester Flippen, 75 Donna Hopper, 59 Dorothy Rountree, 80 Kevin Sanders, 49 Christine Skipworth, 70 Frances Thesing, 77 Richard Vuncannon, 94 Obituaries, 2-3B
WEATHER
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Sunny, hot High 92, Low 65 6D
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