Rough times continue for Issa
British developer Bashar Issa, whose development empire has been collapsing due to financial pressures, is now facing physical woes at his only completed project.
Building inspectors in Manchester, England, have fenced off Issa Quay, a finished, but vacant 12-story apartment complex in that city’s center. Barriers went up and streets were closed around the 83-unit residential tower last Friday after exterior panels tumbled off the building.
Skyscrapernews.com reported Monday the entire facade of the tower will need to be inspected and secured to insure additional panels are not blown off the structure. The construction and development Web site speculated the problem might be severe enough to force the “stripping” of the facade to reduce safety risks.
Issa, owner of Buffalo’s Statler Towers, has faced growing financial problems with his British and Buffalo projects. He had previously halted work at all of his sites and is facing a criminal probe in Manchester following the August 2007 death of a construction worker on one of his projects.
Earlier this month an Irish company hired to operate Issa Quay as a short-term apartment business ended its relationship with the developer after he failed to produce required safety and occupancy certificates.
The self-titled Issa Quay is the only completed project in Issa’s portfolio. His other three other large-scale British efforts have failed to progress beyond a few floors of steel framing at one site, and holes in the ground at two others.
In Buffalo, the $100 million Statler renovation project was halted in early April due to cash flow problems. In July, Issa sold the vacant lot on S. Elmwood Avenue where he proposed building a $361 million, 40-story tower.
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