A sign reading “Halsey Minor’s Big Failed Erection” bravely sits underneath the inactive Landmark Hotel construction site. Some prankster(s) plastered these signs across the entire front facade of the Landmark Hotel site. With a bankrupt construction bank and lawsuits between Minor and his development partner, Danielson, it looks like we aren’t going to experience a Charlottesville luxury hotel anytime in the near future.
Everyone is so obsessed with Halsey Minor right now it’s driving me nuts. You would think that journalists would be smarter, but they regurgitate and frotteurize vague stories into some painful waste of words. Why do they do it? They fear his net worth could absorb their company like a whale shark eats plankton, bitches.
Guess what, “media,” he’s taking you for the “proverbial ride.” He doesn’t have to care about anything; he’s already made it. I say DO THE MATH. This is a game to him, can’t you tell? Part of it is the media’s obsessions, but he’s also egging you on. Read our analysis of the Daily Progress Landmark construction halt if you don’t believe us. We fell into this trap, too. But guess what… construction never even freaking halted! This guy has nothing to lose other than really good cocktail stories about how you will publish anything about him, even if it makes no sense.
Seriously the UNCUS cover story was retarded. It basically went down a paltry list of Halsey’s assets saying how he was having trouble or something like that. What the article failed to mention or to analyze was his actual financial situation. I mean the dude is rich, duh. How does finding examples of 5 or 6 expensive things that don’t make money indicate he is going broke? UNCUS didn’t even have the honesty to give Halsey’s side of the story. Most of these “assets” aren’t even really owned by him because most are real estate and financed by the bank.
And now there is this Valleywag article calling him the “angriest rich man in America” which is equally lame and concludes with this insightful piece of envy:
So why is Minor spending money on art instead of making it himself? This kind of rage, channeled into creative endeavors, could command high prices even in a depressed market. His Internet comments are a whole new form of literary oeuvre. His work is fresh, surprising, visceral, and inexplicable — everything the jaded art world desires.
Wait, spending money on art? I can’t believe it. Frivolousness at its climax baby. It’s like having sex with a blow up doll, only it’s a newspaper and an imagination and no one has any balls. Is this journalism? I know, but it’s RETARDED.
I guess this is sort of pandering to the “celebrity” obsession in each of us. It’s also about journalists validating their jealousy by getting comments from someone who actually reads about his online image. »Read More
Picture of the Landmark Hotel from Blanco Nino
If you recall, we asked some real journalists to investigate the whole story about the construction halt and lack of financing for the Landmark Hotel. Thanks to a real journalist at the Daily Progress (his name is Brian McNeill), we have an update! It gets messy…
Will the Landmark hotel look like this again? Probably not, but according to the Daily Progress, an Atlanta bank has failed to make construction loan payments on the Landmark Hotel site and Halsey Minor has halted construction on the hotel. The article explains:
Under an agreement with the bank, Minor said, he would pay $7 million in equity and the bank would pick up as much as $24 million to pay for the project’s construction. Minor said he has paid his share, but the bank has fallen behind and missed a $1.1 million payment that was due Friday. So far, Minor said, the bank has paid around $4 million of its total $24 million obligation.
Um, hello. Banks just don’t not make payments on construction loans for no reason. Construction loans have a lot of covenants that are often overlooked in good economic times. If things don’t look as good, the bank might have a legal reason to not pay its obligation. Or, maybe the bank has its own financial problems. It’s hard to believe, even when you want to rooftop bar and free drinks sooo badly.
How about some real journalists call that Atlanta bank and find out the other side of the story? Sure, maybe the bank is to blame, but my boozstincts tell me otherwise. Hopefully the bank isn’t shutting down, because that would delay the construction a long time.
Walk into CHAPS on the Downtown Mall and ask Tony the owner, “What’s good today?” He steers you toward the grilled-cheese; do you take him to court for not recusing himself from recommendation of his own products? At Crutchfield a sales-clerk tells you Bose are better speakers than Sony, do you assume this advising comes from an impartial Consumer Reports writer, or from a company employee? In the consignment shop, would you imagine the bric-a-brac is sold without a percentage going to the store itself?
Our local gentil-bonhomme gazillionaire, hotelier, and haircut-model, as reported, is contesting that a self-identified executive employee of an auction-house, which stands to benefit in commission from every item there sold, when asked for an opinion about the purchase of a painting (one of 64 similar works, but with five extra sheep), recommended that purchase. Unconfirmed, but he might also have suggested to try the cheese-danish at the breakfast-bar.
In response to a post on Waldo Jaquith’s blog, Waldo brought up the Portfolio Magazine article’s alleged belief that Halsey Minor was interested in running for governor.
Halsey made this comment in response to Waldo’s post:
Well, you can breath a sigh of relief since I am not running for governor. This article is from a tabloid.
Notice how many people’s names are attached to quotes. The only named person, my friend Ted Waitt, they claimed no longer likes me. They never even interviewed him and they used a 5 year old publicity photo! Its seriously laughable.
My favorite quote from some unnamed board member is that I am “psycho”. Maybe that’s how I built one of 2 NASDAQ 100 internet companies from scratch during all the madness and maintained a stable management team. Oh and I spun out 2 other multibillion companies including Vignette, the fastest growing software company in history. Now that’s psycho!!
These are just stupid words in an article without a reason for being. And I’ll just stand by my accomplishments. Lets see if Portfolio makes it 10 years and gets bought for $2 billion by CBS. Something tells me I don’t have to worry about a follow up story in 5 years.
So there you go Waldo. Next time mention I have a hotel I am building in Charlottesville thats opening next summer. Thats real information.
First drink’s on me.
I have a question for Halsey. Out of jealousy for Waldo’s free drink, if we put up a big post about the hotel and how awesome it is, will you buy all the cVillain’s their first drink at the hotel!? You did say you would make us feel rich and famous.
/does anyone else think this guy rocks?
In case you didn’t know any details about Charlottesville native Halsey Minor, the man behind the Landmark Hotel, now you can read a super long feature on his life, his goals, aspirations, etc titled “The Baddest Boy in Silicon Valley.”
Some facts you should tell your non-cVillain friends about Halsey to sound smart:
- Halsey founded CNET and made over $100 million by the time he was 35
- He has thoroughbred horses which cost more than $3 million each and lives in a mansion (duh)
- He made $300 million from SalesForce.com
- He now runs Minor Ventures which invests in early stage companies
- He has a bunch of other things that cost a lot of money, private jets, big houses, etc.
