CONWAY, SC (WBTW) – An off-campus student apartment complex near Coastal Carolina University could be foreclosed on after a bank accused it of owing more than $24 million.
Like many parts of Horry County, more housing is being planned around Coastal Carolina.
“There is a decent amount of housing, but not a lot of places that are really close to campus,” said Holli Potts, a freshman biology major at CCU.
One of the newer off-campus housing options is The Provincial, which is right across South Carolina Highway 544 from Coastal.
“This is the closest one, so hopefully nothing happens,” said Bella Cossette, a CCU freshman from New Hampshire.
The 440-unit complex, however, now faces foreclosure. Court documents filed Tuesday say U.S. Bank is taking legal action against Coastal 544 Ventures, which is the company that owns The Provincial.
U.S. Bank claims the owners haven’t made $24,201,193.50 in loan payments and interest. U.S. Bank is asking the 15th circuit court to allow the bank to take over The Provincial and sell it.
The owners were loaned $23.6 million in 2013, back when The Provincial was called Monarch 544. The suit also claims the owners haven’t paid county taxes this year.
In August 2018, The Buffalo News reported DHD Ventures, the parent company that owns The Provincial, has also faced foreclosure on student housing complexes in Buffalo, New York, and Johnson City, Tennessee. The Buffalo complex was Monarch 716, which is located near SUNY at Buffalo and SUNY Buffalo State College. The Johnson City complex was Monarch 815, located near East Tennessee State University.
In April, The Buffalo News reported Monarch 716 was sold in a foreclosure auction for $14 million. That story also said Monarch 815 was scheduled for a foreclosure auction in June.
While it’s unclear what the possible foreclosure means for the students who live there, some at CCU say they’re worried about the complex’s future.
“It seems like they should be more open to tell the residents that stay there about the financial problems, so they can figure out a living situation after,” said John Young, a CCU sophomore who lives in The Provincial, but was already planning to move out before next school year.
“A lot of upperclassmen do live there and that’s where we were looking to stay next year, so it’s really concerning for us,” Potts said. “We don’t know what we’re going to do. I guess we’ll just have to see what happens.”
When the phone number for The Provincial was called Wednesday afternoon, the person who answered hung up the phone immediately when asked to speak to someone about the possible foreclosure.
