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BY DENEEN SMITH
dsmith@kenoshanews.com

A foreclosure suit has been filed on property associated with Virginia Towers, a high-profile condominium project in downtown Kenosha.

Baytree National Bank and Trust Company of Lake Forest, Ill., filed suit in Kenosha County Circuit Court against Robert Watring, WA-ZAR, Inc. and Virginia Towers, Inc., saying developer Watring has failed to make payments on a $545,676 loan for which property at 5705 Fifth Ave. and 5711 Fifth Ave. were put up for collateral. The original amount of the loan, made in February 2008, was $575,000.

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The properties are vacant, paved areas west of Virginia Towers. The foreclosure does not name the condominium property itself.

According to the suit, filed June 12, Watring has failed to make timely payments on the loan and has failed to pay property taxes on the property.

A bank representative did not return calls for comment.

Watring, reached by phone, declined to comment on the foreclosure. “I can’t give you any more information on that,” he said.

Virginia Towers, a nine-story, 34-unit condominium building at Fourth Avenue and 57th Street, is the lone survivor of a series of high-rise condo plans for Kenosha’s lakefront.

First proposed by Watring in 2003, the building was expected to capitalize on the success of the nearby HarborPark development. After Watring announced his plans, several other developers also came forward with high-rise condo proposals.

When the real estate market began to slide in 2007, those other condo plans failed to materialize. But Watring’s building was already under construction, albeit slowly.

The building project moved so slowly that permits had to be extended by the city. Originally scheduled for occupancy by June 2007, the building was not complete and ready for buyers to move in until September 2008.

By that time, the market for new homes and condominiums had collapsed.

According to the Kenosha Department of Neighborhood Services and Inspections, no one has moved into the building in the 10 months it has been open. “That building is vacant as far as we know,” said Jim Schultz, department director.