“Sheila Has a Budget, Too”

County treasurer Catherine McClary is trying to interest investors in a 218-condo site in Pittsfield Township, off Michigan Avenue near US-23. The second phase of Wellesley Gardens would be a turnkey project, she says: the permits have already been OK’d and in some cases building foundations are in. So why is the treasurer involved? According to McClary, developer Jeffrey Brown “disappeared” and the bank involved in the project was taken over by the FDIC–which let it go into tax foreclosure. (“Sheila has a budget, too,” McClary quips, referring to FDIC chairwoman Sheila Bair.)

McClary says the condos in phase one “are very nice,” and a $2 million clubhouse was completed before the planned 427-unit project stalled. The minimum bid in the September 21 auction is $1.2 million, or about $5,500 per unit. It sounds like a deal, but with some existing condos selling for under $100,000, any builder who bids will have to stick to a budget.