Steve Blaine, now a spokesman for the towering Landmark Hotel project on the Downtown Mall, disputes reports from anonymous workers that have appeared in C-VILLE, The Hook and cvillenews.com that construction is coming to a halt for at least 60 days.
“The owner [Halsey Minor] intends to proceed with the project,” says Blaine, a seasoned local real estate attorney whose most recent big project was Biscuit Run. “I don’t know where that information [of a halt] came from.”
Why all the talk of a shut down? “We can understand the heightened sensitivity,” says Blaine, pointing to the economy and the profile of the project. He didn’t explain the reports of a shut down, but mused that sometimes subcontractors, particularly those who are let go, can have false impressions of the larger story of a project.
The Landmark was originally slated to be completed by July. Blaine can’t guarantee that the project will finish on its original schedule, but he says that there are no hold ups at this point.
“You will eventually see that the crane will be removed, but it’s just part of the natural sequence,” says Blaine. Considering how much it costs, “we want to get it down as soon as we can.”
So will we see people working there tomorrow? “Absolutely,” says Blaine.