OREM — When Edna H. Leavitt saw the scale model of Orem's Midtown Village displayed in University Mall, she knew she wanted to live there.
"I think I was one of the first ones to buy. I thought this would be a nice place to move to," Leavitt said. "They had this beautiful display at the mall. They have it in the tower here now."
The tower is a three-story office building that lies between the mostly completed south tower and the unfinished north tower of Orem's most notorious eyesore.
Located in the heart of the city, on State Street between 300 South and 400 South, Midtown Village is a monument to unrealized potential and dreams shattered on the rocks of economic reality.
Construction on the project ground to a halt in February 2008, and it has been mired in a morass of liens and lawsuits involving 45 banks, dozens of unpaid contractors and subcontractors, Orem city and as much as $100 million.
But for Leavitt, who proudly proclaims she'll be 92 in July, this is home. And she loves it.
"This is a beautiful project. Everyone I know who lives here likes it," she said. "If they could have just finished things, it would have been great."
Leavitt lives in one of the four condominium units in Midtown Village that were sold before the project stalled. Most of the owners, like Leavitt, are retirees.
Contractors completed 33 other residential units, but legal issues and the troubled home-loan industry make it impossible to sell any of them, even if someone wanted to buy.
"It's an ugly project as far as condo sales are involved," said Robert F. Babcock, the Salt Lake City attorney who is lead counsel for Big D Construction Corp., the general contractor for the project, as well as several of the subcontractors who have filed claims for up to $25 million in unpaid work. "Even if they wanted to sell right now, they couldn't."
As the housing market worsened, a banner advertising "Condos for Rent" went up on Midtown Village, and the south tower is now filled with young couples — many of them college students.
"This place is great," said Jim Kaiser, a BYU math major who lives in a three-bedroom apartment with his wife, who works full time. "It's really functional for us. We lived about a mile down the road, and we were able to upgrade from 1,000 square feet to 1,600 square feet. It was a good deal."
Good enough that all of the available units are rented out and there is a waiting list, said rental manager Kylan Lundeen.
"That phone number we have listed on the front of the building rings all day long, but it just goes to a recording referring the caller to a website because we have so many applicants," Lundeen said. "We'd like to finish a few more units. We have several that are very close to being done."
In addition to providing some income, the renters have helped give the south tower a more lived-in feel, which Leavitt and her family welcomes.
"When she first moved in, we were concerned there weren't more people here. They only had the four tenants," said Leavitt's daughter, Betty Eyre, who lives in Pleasant Grove and drives Leavitt to the hairdresser every week. "Now that there are more people living in here, we feel a lot more comfortable."
It's a three-minute drive from Midtown Village to the site of the Orem home where Leavitt lived for more than 50 years, most of them with her husband, Stanley, who died in 1986.
When the yard work and housework threatened to overwhelm her, she sold the five-bedroom house and bought the condo.
"My model is strictly basic," she said, showing off the guest bedroom, small home office with a laptop computer set up for genealogical research and the spacious master bedroom. "But it's just perfect for me. I love it."
When Midtown Village was being promoted in 2007 and 2008, high-end condos in the development were advertised as costing between $325,000 and $1.4 million for units ranging in size from 1,300 to 4,000 square feet.
Leavitt's "basic" unit didn't cost much more than what she was paid for her old house, though she did move away from a lifetime of memories.
The mother of five daughters, Leavitt relies on Eyre and her other children to take her places. But for the most part, she gets along alone.
She doesn't cook much, often making a fruit smoothie for breakfast or lunch. She exercises on her covered balcony — she has a has a treadmill and a small exercise trampoline — surrounded by the mountains, although the view is marred by the unfinished north tower next door, with its skeletal metal framework, yellow gypsum sheathing and weed-covered lot.
"If they had finished this building before they started the other one, they would have been smarter," Leavitt said. "And we didn't get all the things that were promised."
Midtown Village was marketed as a "city within a city," combining residential condos and commercial retail businesses.
But only two businesses have set up shop in the south tower — the upscale Pizzeria Seven Twelve and Equinox IT Services. Prudential Real Estate, Equity Title, Centurion Security and Kneaders bakery and restaurant each expressed interest at one time but never took up residence.
One of Leavitt's greatest disappointments is that the third tower — a proposed new home for Hale Center Theater in Orem — never materialized. Leavitt is a season ticket holder and said she had looked forward to attending plays in her own backyard.
"If they could have finished things, it would have been great," she said.
Larry Myler, who originally promoted Midtown Village and remains a minority owner, still is optimistic the project will be finished in time.
"I believe that this can be a wonderful project on completion," Myler said, "but when that will happen depends on the future of the building market."
Myler refused to comment beyond that speculation because the project is so bogged down in legal issues that could take years to sort out.
He's not the only one who remains silent.
Anthony Codori, a vice president of United Western Bank in Denver, said he couldn't comment on Midtown Village without consulting his attorney. United Western is the lead bank of a group of 45 banks trying to collect $62 million that had been lent to build the project.
Bankfirst, the original lead bank, was taken over by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. last July, one of many banks in trouble because of rising defaults on real estate loans.
In addition to the private interests, Orem city also is invested in Midtown Village. In 2005, the city approved a $7 million special improvement district bond to finance part of the underground parking lot — with Midtown Village making the bond payments.
In November, developers avoided a threatened foreclosure auction when they made the $430,000 payment. Assistant city attorney Steve Earl said another payment is coming
"Everything is fine now," Earl said. "The next payment will come up on July 15, but we don't have any reason to think they can't pay that."
In the midst of the legal turmoil, Leavitt is the picture of calm. Her home is paid for, and her title insurance defends her property interests. She plans on staying put.
"I have wonderful neighbors. It's great to walk in the halls at supper time," she said. "I have one neighbor who keeps leaving little goodies at my door.
"There are some problems, but I feel safe and secure here."
e-mail: mhaddock@desnews.com