Wallace-Bajjali will not close on Coca-Cola building today

Does this really surprise anybody.

Today was the latest deadline for Wallace-Bajjali Development Partners to close on the Coca-Cola Building and it is not going to happen.

It's not the master developer's fault, according to the master developer, of course. David Wallace is blaming it on the bank.

The Joplin Globe is reporting that Wallace-Bajjali has issued a statement saying the closing will take place by the end of the month:

David Wallace, CEO of the development firm, was in a meeting today and unavailable to address questions, but he issued a statement saying the closing did not go forward because the bank discovered that an updated appraisal is needed.

“Within the last week, the lender chosen by Wallace Bajjali to fund the senior loan unexpectedly indicated that they needed to secure an updated appraisal, since the one in their possession was over 1-year old. This appraisal has been ordered, and pending receipt of this appraisal, both Wallace Bajjali and its senior lender are prepared to close,” the statement reads. “The timing of completion of the appraisal, and its review by the senior lender, is prior to the end of August.”

The sale was supposed to take place in June and mark a turning point in the $794 million project- the first piece of property to be bought back by Wallace-Bajjali from the Joplin Redevelopment Corporation.

At that time, Wallace told the JRC that the lender he had lined up for the project backed out at the last minute.

The Coca-Cola building was originally slated to house the post office, plus government offices, but the Post Office did not show any particular interest in the idea, even though that idea is still being pushed by Wallace-Bajjali.