The Roanoke Times | File September

The Stadium Apartments were closed to make way for The Legends project.

SAM DEAN The Roanoke Times

There's a vacant lot where the $80 million Colosseum was supposed to go on South Main Street in Blacksburg.

JUSTIN COOK | The Roanoke Times

Condo owners socialize at the Collegiate Inn.

Smart business people occasionally hit upon the same idea at about the same time, launch similar products and get very different results.

Case in point: game-day condominiums in Blacksburg.

A couple of years ago, at least three groups of business people said they would build and sell comfortable homes to out-of-town sports fans who visit Blacksburg frequently.

The idea was to create homes in which visiting Hokie fans could stay whenever they came to town without the bother of renting at a hotel.

At a combined cost of more than $100 million, the projects represented the potential to create 469 upscale, part-time residences catering to wealthy Tech alums who follow football and basketball from the home stands.

Blacksburg saw that the partners had passion.

Mayor Richard Rordam attended a groundbreaking. Breathlessly written Web sites proclaimed a new era in alumni accommodations was just over the horizon. Even football coach Frank Beamer became caught up in the enthusiasm.

The math seemed to work in favor of the proposals.

Local chamber officials estimate that 36,000 to 40,000 people fill Blacksburg when Tech plays a home football game and 4,000 of them spend the night in the region. With 1,700 hotel rooms in the New River Valley, it seems apparent that there's a lack of visitor lodging in Blacksburg -- at least when the teams are in town and winning.

But the initial energy for sports condos in Blacksburg appears to have waned.

Delays, the recession and snags including alleged financial improprieties have resulted in Blacksburg getting one partly completed project.

Regrettably for the backers of the other two projects, potential condo buyers have been streaming into town on game weekends for another winning football season, but there is no model unit open for either.

It is possible to place a deposit on a unit. But that's not happening. In fact, some who have given deposits are asking for them back.

As it turned out, the least ambitious sports condo project proposed in terms of construction expense appears to have gone the furthest toward meeting targets. The project that was projected to cost the most and promised to deliver the most luxury is stuck in the weeds of financing issues.

For the stalled projects, it looks like a possibility that another Hokie football season will come and go without a ribbon-cutting to commemorate their completion -- the third since the two stalled projects were announced.

The economy's troubles are well-known -- first a housing market meltdown, followed by a collapse of banks and investment houses, declining consumer confidence and the implosion of the auto sector.

For months on end, more than half a million people a month lost jobs.

Conditions have sidelined many a business venture. But the sports condos were never for the average guy.

Demand for hotel rooms rose with the win total

People who buy vacation homes -- which are second homes bought primarily for leisure rather than to live in full time or hold as an investment -- tend to have above-average incomes.

The average vacation home purchaser in the United States has a median household income of $97,200, according to the National Association of Realtors. That's about twice the median household income in the country.

That said, even the wealthy are struggling to some extent. The National Association of Realtors says purchasers bought 31 percent fewer vacation homes in 2008 compared with 2007.

The town of Blacksburg saw 30 condos sold during the first nine months of 2009, down from 49 during the same period of 2008, a reduction of 39 percent, according to figures real estate agent Jeremy Hart pulled from the Multiple Listing Service, a real estate database.

Hart said he would be cautious about recommending either of the stalled projects to clients.

"There's an oversupply [of condominiums in Blacksburg], financing is tough to get, and people are more carefully watching their money," Hart said.

But even in these conditions, one of the sports condo projects has opened its doors.

When the Hokies upset Miami in the rain Sept. 26, one fan group retired to their second homes for a dry, relaxing evening in Blacksburg -- owners of units at the Collegiate Inn.

The partners behind this project installed high-end furnishings to convert 48 rooms at the Prices Fork Road Holiday Inn into a condo-hotel. They say they intend to convert 102 remaining rooms as demand warrants. They have sold 38.

There's a one-room format with a two-room format coming online.

"Been a real hit. Everybody who sees it wants to stay here," said partner Kirk Johnson, 44, of Sterling and a 1988 graduate of Virginia Tech with a finance degree who has made a career in real estate.

The other partner is Shivon Dosky, 46, of Haymarket, a 1989 Tech grad in electrical engineering. He describes himself as an entrepreneur and real estate owner and developer.

Steve Balberde, a resident of Fairfax County who works for a defense contractor, recalls his headaches finding a hotel room before he bought into Collegiate Inn in 2007.

"The more games they won, the tougher rooms got," Balberde said. He and two fellow Tech alums who are also fraternity brothers have three units in a row and are having a blast.

He gets income when he is not using his unit if it is rented as a hotel room, the logistics of which are a service the Collegiate Inn handles for a fee.

Collegiate Inn owners announced recently that another piece of their strategy has fallen into place: A big name in Tech sports has lent his name to the project.

It's Bud Foster, defensive coordinator for Hokie football.

Supporters of stalled projects stay positive

In contrast, two other sports condo projects don't appear close to the start of construction.

But events may be shifting.

Blacksburg may well see the construction of both projects close to the Virginia Tech campus in the near future, according project representatives who stand behind the ventures and the need for both projects.

Mike Brown is the Atlanta-based manager for The Legends of Blacksburg, envisioned as an 80-unit condo tower on land already purchased near the sports arenas. A bank earlier pledged $26 million for construction. Beamer became a pitchman for the project in return for a promise of a free condo in addition to one he said he intends to buy.

But no project has materialized.

Where Hokie fans were supposed to be celebrating a fabulous start to the football season as owners of The Legends of Blacksburg within walking distance of Lane Stadium and Cassell Coliseum, you'll find a boarded-up apartment building.

Brown said there was an aborted start, but a potential new project owner with access to financing is waiting in the wings.

Meanwhile James Oliver, a New River Valley contractor and real estate developer, is the marketing director for The Colosseum, a proposed 241-unit, twin-tower condo-hotel on South Main Street with a price tag of $80 million.

To create alignment with Virginia Tech, the Colosseum team became a donor to Hokie athletics, pledged a portion of condo sales to a new basketball facility and promised to endow a scholarship.

But where The Colosseum was supposed to go, you'll find a vacant lot off South Main Street.

Oliver said in a recent interview that financing has not been lined up but added that, when it is, the project will be built.

Public records shed some light on the difficulties holding back the two stalled projects.

At the Legends, the holdup has been at least in part financial.

One of the project's chief financial backers, Rich Rodriguez -- head football coach at the University of Michigan and former West Virginia University coach -- was sued by an Alabama bank on grounds the bank has not received payments on a construction loan to erect the Legends complex.

In South Carolina, Clegg Lamar Greene, a lead executive of the company that once owned the project, is facing fraud charges in state court.

Greene, 71, of Clemson, S.C., was arrested Dec. 29 on five felony counts of breach of trust with fraudulent intent. He's accused of stealing company funds to pay for cosmetic surgery, among other things.

Reservations at the Legends peaked at 52 and have since fallen to 29.

"There were some problems," said William Gearhart, a real estate agent who is associated with the project. "We're not actively marketing it."

But Brown said he believes the project is about to get back on track.

"I am cautiously optimistic by the end of October that we are going to have the project sold, and it's going to be completed as advertised," Brown said. He declined to identify the other party, but said "this guy has a great track record."

Will the two stalled projects perhaps merge? No, representatives of each project said.

"We kind of feel our two projects complement each other. Between the two projects, the buyer gets a very wide choice of options," Brown said.

One project stalled by bankruptcy, failed bid

Meanwhile, the Colosseum team got as far as to buy a large lot on South Main Street near Virginia Tech's airport and submit a layout to the town of Blacksburg in fall 2008.

But then, Lunden Investments, a California entity that Colosseum backers were counting on to finance a portion of the project cost, filed bankruptcy. Now the Colosseum team is trying to recover $450,000 it gave Lunden in an advance of loan fees.

The California Corporations commissioner this past spring announced that Lunden and its president had engaged in the business of being a finance lender or broker without a license.

When told about a desist and refrain order posted on the Web site of the California Department of Corporations, Oliver said he was not aware of the claim and added that The Colosseum had thoroughly checked out Lunden in advance.

When shown a copy of the order, Oliver said attorneys assisting the Colosseum team had told him not to discuss the matter.

In another unsuccessful strategy, an entity related to The Colosseum contracted to buy a publicly traded shell company on which a financing plan was to be built.

Partner Mark Kinser, a Radford contractor and real estate developer, told The SportsBusiness Journal in Charlotte, N.C., that he intended to raise construction funding for The Colosseum by having the company sell stock to the public, according to a story published June 29.

The public offering did not take place, however.

A filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said Kinser was terminated from the job of chief executive officer of the company, called Colosseum Holdings Inc., in late August. Oliver said that the Kinser left the post because he withdrew from the deal when the publicly traded company turned out to be unsuitable for listing on the Nasdaq stock exchange, which was contrary to the terms of the contract.

"It was a real blow," Oliver said, when financing fell through, "but we've picked ourselves up."

Chamber official questions need for units

Can the market support the construction of all 469 units envisioned in the three projects?

Aradia Zenobia, interim director of the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce, said it is hard for her to picture there being enough buyer interest to justify building the super-luxury condos planned at The Colosseum, which range in price from $170,000 to $800,000.

Announced amenities include 24-hour room service, an expensive restaurant, underground parking, laundry services, baby-sitting, an indoor pool, a fitness center, a spa and meeting space.

"There are certain people that want to live it up, but I don't know that there's that many," Zenobia said.

To the contrary, Oliver said, Colosseum backers commissioned a market study that showed the project has a solid chance of success.

"We believe in the project. We think it will be a great project for Blacksburg, a great project for Tech fans and alumni," Oliver said. "We have a never-say-die-attitude toward making it happen. It's not a matter of if, it is matter of when."

Sixteen parties have reserved units with deposits. No one has requested their money back during the construction delay, he said.

"We are fighting like mad to complete financing," Oliver said. "That is a real dogfight in this economy."

So while the Hokies fight for a title, would-be condo builders are fighting to persuade lenders to bring high-end real estate to Blacksburg. With one condo project already up and running, there is pressure on the competitors to perform.