Charlotte contractor facing massive debt transfers unfinished homes to subcontractor

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) - The fallout from a Charlotte contractor’s foreclosures and mountains of debt continues to do damage to homebuyers, subcontractors and almost anyone in the wake of the projects left behind.

Now, two of the buyers under contract are stuck negotiating with a subcontractor who inherited the incomplete project because of nearly $1 million in unpaid invoices from R-Cubed/City View Terraces and owner Chris Bradshaw.

Since WBTV’s first story in January, the walls have continued to close in on City View Terraces, whose legal name according to public records is actually R-Cubed Charlotte Investment Group, and owner Chris Bradshaw.

That’s also left some of the people he was under contract with at risk of losing tens of thousands of dollars.

“This isn’t the first house we’ve ever bought but it certainly is one that we won’t ever forget,” City View customer Bill Hughes told WBTV in an interview.

Bill Hughes, Anthony Longarzo and their significant others were looking forward to becoming neighbors in a new-build duplex on Julia Maulden Place. They were under contract with City View.

The dream of the home and becoming neighbors is now a nightmare.

“We’ve kind of came to the reality that the property is probably not going to be ours after we’ve been in this for almost a year and a half now,” Anthony Longarzo said.

WBTV previously reported Bradshaw faced foreclosures on several different properties because of missed payments to his lenders. But instead of foreclosure records obtained by WBTV show the two units under contract with Hughes and Longarzo were transferred to another company. Carter Lumber took possession in April.

“We simply wanted to buy a house and next thing you know we’re dealing with the company that loaned all of the material to the building,” Hughes said.

Carter sued Bradshaw’s company saying they were owed nearly a million dollars in labor and material Bradshaw never paid. But in the three months, since the property was transferred, the lawsuit has stayed stagnant, and now Hughes and Longarzo are negotiating with Carter.

“They assured us that our investment was safe, they’re going to honor the contract and gave us a lot of hope,” Longarzo said.

“We thought in a few months we’re going to move into the dream house, that’s what they told us.”

Emails they shared show difficult negotiations with Carter and disagreements about a purchase price given the state of the homes. With a main issue being how much Carter lost in labor and materials to Bradshaw’s projects.

WBTV did some digging and it turns out, Carter Lumber has sued far more than City View for unpaid invoices.

In Mecklenburg County alone, WBTV found more than 25 lawsuits, liens and judgements filed by Carter Lumber against contractors and subcontractors for unpaid since January 1, 2020.

A good amount of that debt appears to be “credit” Carter extended to other companies, according to their own court filings and “Yard Account Applications” that are essentially credit application forms filed in the court record.

Carter Lumber was sued in a case related to City View. Groundfloor Holdings loaned City View money for constructing two units on North Davidson St and had a Deed of Trust securing the loan.

In the lawsuit, Groundfloor claims Carter Lumber also entered into two Deed of Trust agreements with City View to secure their debt of $200,000. They claim Carter knew about the other Deed of Trust but did it anyway to “extend credit” to Bradshaw’s company.

The debt Carter says City View owes comes from a credit account. In January, WBTV interviewed former subcontractors and attorneys who worked with City View owner Chris Bradshaw and spoke about his history of forcing people into court to get paid for their work.

“Do you feel there’s any responsibility from Carter in allowing this to get to this situation?” a WBTV reporter asked Hughes and Longarzo.

“I do,” Longarzo said. “When they bought the contracts they bought us.”

“So I think they have a responsibility to us to either give us our money back on the down payment or work with us in finishing the houses.”

WBTV reached out to Carter Lumber for a comment. The company provided a lengthy written statement saying, “Carter has attempted to work with the individuals that originally contracted with R-Cubed” and claims they “offered to finance the construction out of its own pocket and sell construction materials at cost”.

The Carter spokesperson wrote “Some have accused Carter of trying to profit from these circumstances. That is absolutely not the case. Carter’s objective is simply to recover as much of its loss as it can. Even with the proposals Carter has made R-Cubed’s customers, Carter will still lose a significant sum of money.”

Longarzo and Hughes said they would be happy to if Carter gave them the $30,000 deposits they paid to Bradshaw and called it quits.

“Cut our losses and get our money back, our down payment that we think is rightfully owed to us because you know, we didn’t ask to be in this situation. We just wanted a house,” Longarzo said.

WBTV previously spoke to Charlie Strickland of Owners Construction Advocate who offered advice on the most important things to consider before going under contract.

WBTV is continuing to track the fallout of City View’s collapse. Another derelict construction project on Irwin Ave from City View entered foreclosure and went to auction. Bradshaw placed the winning bid but has so far not deposited the money to close the deal. WBTV is working on reporting more details on that situation in the coming weeks.

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