And such was the case when Nancy and friends voted to give $391,000 to the owners of Ashley Creek Apartments. Apparently, if the ownership trail laid out by the News & Record is correct, Rodney and Tommie Smith of Burlington, owners of Ashley Creek since 2006, pocketed the $391,000 given to them by the City of Greensboro (thus the reason they were able to discount the sale price by $300,000) and resold the property to Malone, N.Y.-based Smith Family Rentals LLC. A company owned by Rodney and Tommie Smith.
But it doesn't end there as the Business Journal is reporting today that Smith Family Rentals LLC just sold the property to Robert Laing of The Apartment Director:
"The purchasing entity, LSA Ashley Creek LLC, is led by Robert Laing of The Apartment Director, a New York-based consultant who partners with multifamily investors to reposition distressed apartments. James Anthony Jr., CEO of Colliers International’s Raleigh-Durham office, is listed as the registered agent for LSA Ashley Creek LLC.
The seller was Malone, N.Y.-based Smith Family Rentals LLC."
It was in-fact Mayor Robbie Perkins who arranged this deal to be brought before the Greensboro City Council and Nancy Baracat Vaughan was either complicit or too naive to see through what was going on at the time.
But let's not forget, George Hartzman saw straight through the whole thing.
Update: Via Facebook, Nancy Baracat Vaughan tells me she voted against the project twice. But she never spoke out against the corruption that was taking place right in front of everyone's eyes.
