Crescent Resources broke ground today on a 303-unit apartment complex in Durham.

The $47 million project, called Circle Ninth Street, is being built on a six-acre site adjacent to Ninth Street and the historic Erwin Mill building. 

The first units are expected to be available this fall.

Circle Ninth Street is to be similar to eco-friendly communities that Crescent has built in Florida and the Charlotte area.

The Charlotte developer is also behind The Residences at Cameron Village, a 282-unit apartment complex in the west Raleigh shopping center.

Crescent Resources announced today that it will begin construction immediately on a new 303-unit apartment complex in Durham.

The $47 million project, called Circle Ninth Street, is being built on a six-acre site just west of the historic Erwin Mill building and the retail shops along Ninth Street.

Crescent paid just over $6 million for the property, according to Durham County property records.

The Charlotte developer has also begun construction on The Residences at Cameron Village, a 282-unit apartment complex going up in the west Raleigh shopping center.

Circle Ninth Street is to be similar to ecofriendly communities that Crescent has build in Florida and the Charlotte area. The project is expected to be completed by next fall.

This is the four apartment complex Crescent has begun construction on this year, and it is one of three that the company made an equity investment in.
 

Crescent Resources will hold a ground breaking for its new apartment project in Cameron Village on Thursday.

The $49 million project will add the first residential units to the west Raleigh shopping center.

Called Gallery at Cameron Village, the project will include 282 apartments and 16,000 square feet of retail at the corner of Clark Avenue and Oberlin Road.

Crescent expects the first residential units to be available in the spring of 2013.

The ground breaking is set for 10 a.m. on Thursday.

A Charlotte real-estate development company that has recently emerged from bankruptcy protection says in a lawsuit that its former owner, Duke Energy, brought the company to financial ruin.

Our sister paper, The Charlotte Observer, reports that a trust representing creditors of Crescent Resources is seeking nearly $1.2 billion from Duke. The creditors say Duke put Crescent into insolvency by making the company borrow $1.5 billion in 2006 at a time that Crescent was forecasting a 35-percent decline in real-estate sales.

The lawsuit by Crescent's creditors, mostly banks, alleges that more than 1,000 creditors "were the victims of Duke’s greed and its improper, ill-conceived and grossly over-leveraged distribution scheme.”

Duke Energy denies the allegations and says it will vigorously defend itself. For more details on the suit, click here.

Charlotte-based Duke is the state's biggest electric utility with 1.8 million customers in the state, including more than 160,000 in Durham, Chapel Hill and other parts of the Triangle.

Crescent Resources, a Charlotte company that planned to build a mix of shops and offices at Cameron Village before filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last year, has filed a restructuring plan with a bankruptcy court in Texas.

Under the terms of the plan, the company’s outstanding secured debt would be reduced by approximately $1 billion to $465 million.

Crescent is also seeking financing of approximately $125 to $150 million that would be used to refinance outstanding debt and provide working capital.

Crescent revealed plans in 2008 to build up to 28,000 square feet of shops and 232 apartments or condominiums at the corner of Oberlin Road and Clark Avenue.

Crescent's contract to buy the land from Regency Centers of Jacksonville, Fla., expired in November and wasn't renewed, but the developer still hopes to move forward on the project.