Plan, plan and plan some more

QUESTION: Is Stonewall Central a better name for the property?
UPDATE (click): 2012 Audited Financial Statements
UPDATE (click): 2013 Annual Meeting packet
UPDATE (click): 2013 Special Meeting packet

AUDITED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS ANALYSIS 2009-2012 (click): A CPA analysis of SOHO Central Condominium Corporation's Audited Financial Statements

The Fantasy Vision

Does everyone remember this among the wonderful ads and brochures and how about the salespeople and what they told us. I hear such fantasies continue. So after watching and remembering, cry and then laugh at the truth that is being exposed.









And, if the above is not enough and you need elevated blood pressure, here is the project's brochure.

Many posts are still issues and need to be read once again. At this main hub of postings watch for new posts and updates. Please get involved by spreading the word as to the issues here. We must document all that is taking place. Many documents need retrieval and assistance is needed in getting them scanned and posted.

Sunday, June 30, 2013

Soho Central Complaint Form (enlarged)

Soho Central Complaint Form (enlarged)


I know, I know, why bother?  After all, the building is deteriorating and all decisions are made in secret and private meetings with insults and threats flaring their ugly nostrils when confronted with questions and demands.

But, the form may be needed for those willing to build cases for complaints to be heard by the government and legal cases presented in court.  So instead of the small form which runs out at the concierge, here is the form enlarged and available at will.



(Click here for a .pdf of the form.)

Bel-Air Soho's Freedom work continues

Bel-Air Soho's Freedom work continues


Lower rate and legality being instituted and restored.




(Click here for a .pdf of the memo.)

Thursday, June 27, 2013

Pathetic is among the first impressions

UPDATE (06/29/13):  Some have said whatever he does it is OK if it is his money.  Well, Unit Owners in some of the Century Properties buildings would like to show where the money came from with tours free of charge.  While viewing the construction comments on management control and the original purchase price and what was delivered will be discussed as well as the current selling prices.  Then a better idea as to the origin of the money may be discovered.

Pathetic is among the first impressions.  For buyers and unit owners of Century Properties condos, I would think they as I focus on egomaniac and then think to megalomaniac, after all, six of one half dozen of the other.

Ryan had placed the article on facebook and one person said they did not know whether to laugh or pity him.  All others replied that no pity was deserved only laughter.  The sad and pathetic deserves laughter.

At the link you may view the works of pathos with the article below.


“The Museum of Me”


“Robbie Antonio’s new house in Manila, designed by renowned architect Rem Koolhaas, will be filled with portraits of himself, by world-class artists such as Julian Schnabel, Marilyn Minter, and David Salle. Is the 36-year-old real-estate developer a patron, an egomaniac, or both?

Ask Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas why he’s taken on his first residential commission in 15 years—scheduled to be completed this month in Manila, the Philippines—and he has a very short answer indeed: “Well, basically Robbie.”

“Robbie” would be Robbie Antonio, a 36-year-old real-estate developer and voracious art collector who has spun a golden web and ensnared some of the world’s top creative names for two eye-poppingly ambitious projects.

The first is the Manila home, which also serves as a museum for his ever expanding art collection, with works by the likes of Damien Hirst, Francis Bacon, and Jeff Koons. The building, by Koolhaas and his team at the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), is referred to by the name Antonio gave it, Stealth. Its cost—upwards of $15 million—is in somewhat stark contrast to the average annual Filipino-family income of $4,988. Indeed, the building, under construction on a small lot in Manila’s most exclusive neighborhood, has been kept largely quiet until now. It’s a series of boxes stacked together in an irregular pattern, with scooped-out windows that call to mind Marcel Breuer’s Whitney Museum, all wrapped in a charcoal-colored concrete-and-polyurethane “skin”; the roof features a pool flowing into a dramatic waterfall.

Antonio calls the second project Obsession: a series of portraits of himself by some of the world’s top contemporary artists, including Julian Schnabel, Marilyn Minter, David Salle, Zhang Huan, members of the Bruce High Quality Foundation, and Takashi Murakami.

So far, two dozen portraits are under way or completed, with nearly $3 million spent on them. Antonio is aiming for 35 in the series by the end of the year, all of which will be housed in a special gallery within Stealth, open only to invited guests. The level of effort he’s put into Obsession and Stealth over the last two years “tells you about my personality—going to extremes, down to the minutest detail,” he says.

The performance artist Marina Abramović, a friend of Antonio’s, who has called him a “volcanic tornado,” is contributing a piece to Obsession that she calls The Chamber of Stillness: a basement room in Stealth with a waterfall view that could actually lock him in for periods of up to 60 minutes and force contemplation. “She thinks I’m super-fast and need to calm down,” says Antonio.

One day in New York this winter, while riding in a town car to Chelsea to see the contents of his art-storage unit, Antonio said out of the blue, “I want to work with five Pritzker winners by the time I’m 45,” referring to the prize awarded annually by the Chicago hotel and real-estate family and the highest honor for architects. In fact, before he gave Koolhaas the green light, he says, he had discussions with the offices of Jean Nouvel, Thom Mayne, and Zaha Hadid, a murderers’ row of Pritzker laureates.

Antonio doesn’t come from a family of collectors. He’s self-educated in the arts and says simply, “I’ve always been interested in art and architecture.” But he thinks in terms of the collecting big leagues. “You see Peter Brant do this for Stephanie Seymour,” he says of his multiple portrait commissions, “but I do it for myself! I want to surpass that.”

The fortune for this unchained ambition comes from Century Properties, the publicly traded real-estate company founded by Antonio’s father, currently valued at around a half-billion dollars, according to Antonio, who manages the day-to-day operations. Most of their projects are in Asia, but Antonio also founded a separate, New York-based company to do developments there—including a collaboration with I. M. Pei on a luxury condominium, the Centurion. The family’s wealth is estimated at $300 million.

Antonio is constantly on the hunt for new Obsession commissions. In March, at New York’s Art Dealers Association of America Art Show at the Park Avenue Armory, he saw a display of Karen Kilimnik’s storybook-style portraits of women. “Does she do men?” he asked the gallery representative. (Kilimnik has not yet been drafted for the Obsession project.)

The artists he has enlisted in this quest seem bemused by Antonio’s aggressive approach but powerless to resist it. “His enthusiasm for all kinds of things is endearing—he kind of pulls you into his orbit,” says painter David Salle, who did a double portrait of Antonio next to Stealth, putting the lord alongside his manor, an updated riff on the Gainsboroughs and Sargents of old.

The Los Angeles-based painter Kenny Scharf portrayed Antonio as “a chic space alien,” complete with antennae. “We had dinner, I took his picture, and we talked a lot,” says Scharf of getting to know Antonio. “He wanted it immediately, and I told him he couldn’t have it immediately. He was very impatient.

“He’s a good-looking guy, and he obviously likes that part about himself.”

One thing that has helped persuade the artists to participate—beyond the $50,000 to $100,000 that Antonio is paying for each piece—is that he has done his homework. Photographer David LaChapelle recalls that, when Antonio showed up for their first meeting in Los Angeles, “he had a book of mine with literally thousands of Post-it notes.” Two months later, LaChapelle photographed Antonio against a flamboyant “millionaire’s pinball machine” backdrop.

LaChapelle takes pains to put the Obsession series in perspective. “The tradition of wealthy people wanting portraits of themselves goes back as far as art history,” he says. “It’s very easy for people to criticize him, but the more art, the better. It will be up to him to have a well-rounded project and not just a vanity project. And the collection will set him apart.”

Perhaps. Certainly having a Koolhaas house-museum is a distinction that few can claim. Plenty of people have tried to commission a Koolhaas home, but he says he was waiting for the right client—and the perfect project. “We were desperate to do more houses,” he says. “It is particularly exciting because, if you do a house, inevitably you have to engage with a person. So nothing more intimate exists.

Somehow, Antonio’s hyper-specificity about what he wanted struck a chord. “Actually, I’m surprised they never kicked me out of their office, because I gave them, like, 50,000 images of what not to do and what to do,” says Antonio.

“Half of them were contradictory to each other,” says Koolhaas of the requested features. “Then we decided to basically not be our normal, occasionally dogmatic self but to completely adopt his point of view and see where it would end.”

Even Antonio’s architectural references were outsize. When it came to the 25,000-square-foot Stealth, he and Koolhaas used the floor plans of the Whitney and the Guggenheim as comparisons.

“It’s an enormous vision,” adds Koolhaas. “We’ve never had somebody with so many things he liked, so many things he wanted.” Originally, Antonio wanted Koolhaas to design a revolving building that would rotate a few times a month. “But I thought that would be detrimental to my budget,” Antonio says. Perhaps the most fantastical element in the finished house is near the bar on the first floor: a circular section of the wall behind it can actually flip open, hinging at the top and leading out onto the garden—giving new meaning to the phrase “man cave.”

Most of all, it was the distinctness of the Obsession project that appealed to Koolhaas, who notes dryly that “in every suburban house you see a Richard Prince Nurse.” Koolhaas says he was attracted by the notion that Antonio was testing “how far you can take patronage, or how far you can get art to represent yourself, or how you can [make] your own reputation through art.”

That was the only vote of confidence the collector needed. “I really went for it,” Antonio adds.”

Saturday, June 22, 2013

Threats of Violence Escalate

Threats of Violence Escalate


So the threats of violence against me for being a Unit Owner activist suggesting death have now risen to that level.

I would ask everyone to read message #257 before it is removed: http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?p=104470019#post104470019

Actually, the original post below has been changed by the moderators/administrators at skyscrapercity.com.

Here it is before it was removed: "Has anyone heard about cracked skulls of nuisance soho central residents? Maybe someone wants to experience them. Let us know." This was written by a user name of "rough" who writes "porn star" below their name.


The moderators/administrators have now replaced it with "- edit: easy dude" after I reported the threat.

The threats and attempted assaults just never stop in "It's More Fun in the Philippines."

Friday, June 21, 2013

Sale of condo units sans permit in Makati opposed

Sale of condo units sans permit in Makati opposed


Written by Tribune Thursday, 20 June 2013 08:00



Picar Development Inc. questioned the sale by Century Properties Inc. of condominium units in Makati even prior to getting approval from the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB)in clear violation of the law.
The property company said it found questionable Century’s sale of units in Gramercy Residences at a time its amended license to sell (ALTS) was still pending with the government regulatory body.
“That is a violation of HLURB rules — offering for sale or selling units without the license to sell which in this case is the amendment of the license,” Picar, the real estate arm of the Ama Group, said in a statement.
Century was quoted in a news article as saying that the HLURB granted it on May 31 an amended license to sell, which covers the units on the top five floors of its luxury condominium project along Kalayaan Ave. in Makati.
The amended license was filed on July 25, 2012.
Picar, however, questioned how Century was able to sell units in the five floors prior to May 31.
“If some of the units were sold prior to the issuance of the ALTS, are these not violations of the HLURB rules that merit fines?,” Picar said.
In a press statement last March, Century said it had sold 1,432 units in Gramercy before December 2012.
Under its original license to sell issued in April 2008, Century is allowed to offer for sale only 1,275 residential and commercial units in the building.
Picar said it is only the HLURB that can shed light on the matter of whether the 157 units sold by Century in excess of the 1,275 units covered by its original license, were sold before the issuance of an amended permit.
The company also asked the government body to address the issue of violations.
“Did HLURB issue a Notice of Violation to CPI for its Gramercy project with regard to the selling without (amended) License to Sell? Will the issuance of the ALTS moot the violations committed by Century?” it said.
The sale of additional units without approval is just one of the issues being raised against Century.
The other is its building of five additional floors on Gramercy without proper approval.
“We have all the documents to prove Century Properties Inc. added five additional floors on its Gramercy condominium project without the required building permit,” said Picar in a statement.

New Security?: Here is the Rest of the Story

UPDATE (06/30/13) :  Here is the posted memo.  The change is taking place tonight with new guards and we will see the secret of who will stay from the old guard since the board meetings are held in secret.  It seems that the replacement of concierge personnel has already taken place.
 
 
 (Click here for a .pdf of the memo.)
 

New Security?:  Here is the Rest of the Story


Borrowing from Paul Harvey of the past "here is the rest of the story" theme from his famous US broadcast, there is a truth or more facts behind the memo we have now seen in the building which will be posted here today.

The new security agency from what I have now been told has been required by the Board and one of the developers was also named by the employee of the new company to retain ten (10) of the guards.  Is this true?  Why was the kept secret?  What has taken place at the meetings of the Board to discuss and approve this?

If true, this does not allow for a clean slate given all that has taken place and not taken place since turnover.

Our MONEY spent and decisions made at private and secret Board meetings.  We have still not gotten all the Minutes and Boards Resolutions.  We have still not gotten answers to the 17 letters from last year.  So much done behind closed doors without our knowledge and consent.

What is and what will be special about the old guard within the new security force?

Not even a clean slate from behind the dirty curtain.

Sunday, June 16, 2013

Is a Private Security Guard to be set up within the new security force?

Is a Private Security Guard to be set up within the new security force?

Some security personnel are being transferred to the new company per the Board?


The following was sent to me by Regina Alemania; and at her request, I am posting without the names.  The redacted names along with others may be brought up at the Annual Meeting in August.


"POST THIS WITH MY NAME. . . . .in fairness to those security who will be removed together with the change of Security Agency.

[A Board member who was recorded] - accused Regina Alemania of not performing broker business in Soho Central but instead having " BOYFRIENDS SECURITY GUARDS " during last year’s Annual Meeting with the attendance of unit owners and owner representatives and SPA.

Now the security agency will be changed for various reasons EXCEPT THAT THERE WILL BE A SELECTED FEW WHO ARE FAVORITES THAT WILL BE ABSORBED BY THE INCOMING SECURITY AGENCY. May I ask why retain and require the new agency to absorb the selected favorites???  [To the Insulting Board Member], is not one of them your " BOYFRIEND " ???  Just asking because why retain these selected few.  A lot of these security guards were asking me how come they will change the security BUT RETAIN the favorites and particularly one who has a case and scandal in Soho who got intimately involved with Concierge ladies, unit owner whom the husband caught, etc. and another favorite who carries the bags of [Two Board Members].  They told me you Board people are so UNFAIR to those security guards who have been honest and dedicated to their work wherein most of the time they are assigned in the basement parking. 

If the security agency will be changed, then REMOVE, I REPEAT, REMOVE EVERYONE WHO IS WITH EMME SECURITY AGENCY. This way you people will be fair with the rest. Aside from this, since you are saying that you are stepping down, why retain these selected favorites, NOT UNLESS THESES GUYS WILL BE YOUR OWN PERSONAL ESCORTS . . . . BUT salary will have to come from your own pocket.

I am posting this to give myself JUSTICE for what you, have accused me of during last year’s Annual Meeting. And this posting had been approved and read by the unit owners that I am managing in SOHO Central."

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Freedom and now the Cleanup at Bel-Air Soho

Freedom and now the Cleanup

at Bel-Air Soho


As stated in the message from the Bel-Air Soho Condominium Corporation's President, "tens of thousands of condo owners like you are being cheated, bullied, ridiculed and suppressed by the developers of their condos, yet, all they can do is to accept the injustice until someone from their ranks will lead and work for their liberation from the oppressors."

Sadly, damage was presented to the new Board from the management and unelected Board ordered to leave by a judge who had to issue not just one but two Orders from the Court to vacate.  At our building, Soho Central, we may need additional insurance coverage for such damage.

Please read the message and discuss their situation in relation to ours.  Our next annual meeting is in August as required by the By-Laws.  The meeting last year was delayed in violation of the By-Laws.

 
(Click here for a copy of the image above.)

 
(Click here for a copy of the image above.)

Saturday, June 8, 2013

Rumors: Security Company

UPDATE (06/11/13)The last incident that seemed to be the last straw regarding security took place on the 8th floor in the Mayflower tower.  If anyone has any general knowledge as to the nature of the problem, please let us know.  Security in this building from what I have been told was a problem since turnover.  Of course, we have experienced this even before coming to live with our unit being broken into or entered with a copy of the key without our knowledge and consent.  I have written about the keys and various security matters in the past.  Yes, the Board took its sweet time to actually address the issue at least in part.

Rumors:  Security Company


Yes, since Unit Owners, members of the Soho Central Condominium Corporation (SCCC), are given little to nothing as far as information from an unelected board of directors, we must depend upon rumors.  The rumors have the security currently under contract leaving to be replaced by an unknown company.  We have never seen the past contracts and have not been allowed to see any new ones.
The 17 letters Ryan Reyes and I had sent at the end of November beginning of December 2012 have not been answered.  Among those letters was a request for copies of all contracts and policies.  From those Minutes and Resolutions given so far few of the contracts are mentioned.  So the question becomes when and where were they all approved on a yearly or periodic basis?

The board meetings that spend OUR money and make decisions for the building are held in secret and are private.  Unit Owners who are members of the SCCC are denied to witness the transactions.  Being that they are not open for Unit Owners, what is there to hide?
Rumors have the current security given the boot due to at least two incidents.  What were the natures of these incidents?  One, I believe, involved an unruly tenant causing various problems but the other is not known to us.

Oh, and before any rude responses, being given notices of work or directives is not sufficient.  Unit Owners are members of the SCCC and deserve the respect we have never gotten.  It is not enough to have ideas originating within a developer controlled board or borrowed from others implemented without Unit Owners witnessing and giving tacit consent.

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Slanderous Violation

Slanderous Violation


I was just told by an Australian that a sales agent stated that I work for other developers and that is why I write what I do.  I challenge that sales agent to report their claims to the BIR and Labor.  They are committing lies against me which are slanderous.

Who is this pig that makes such remarks against my character?


Oh, and the other statements made by the sales agent were illusions even I was shocked by how absurd they were.