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Investors, where are you? That call in the economic dark is coming from holes in the ground, vacant lots, empty buildings and barren development ground.

A review of high-profile projects and pieces of property shows that one voice has been heard, another has been silenced and some are just waiting for a receptive ear, or investor.

The voice that was heard came from a hole in the ground at 100 Second Ave., where Sherman and Associates Inc. of Minneapolis has been trying to solve housing market and tax credit dilemmas at least since 2005, when it proposed the Metro Lofts residential development on the spot directly west of its Waterstreet Brownstones/Vine Street Lofts development.

Initial plans called for condominiums, but that market went soft, so Sherman switched gears, deciding on an apartment building that would offer a mix of market-rate and low-income housing, said Jackie Nickolaus, vice president of development.

“It became obvious four years ago that the market for downtown condos was not robust,” she said. The company decided on apartments, but had difficulty locating tax credits that would entice investors.

Sherman obtained the credits for low-income housing this year, providing the incentive it needed to begin construction this summer on a four-story, $20 million building that will contain 80 low-income units and 31 market-rate units.

Who wants credits?

There is something of a hitch, however. Nickolaus said that although the project has qualified for the low-income tax credits, Sherman has had difficulty finding investors willing to purchase them.

“Like many other people, we are working to finalize an investor for low-income tax credits. We have interest, so I can’t complain,” she said.

Nickolaus said interest in tax credit financing seems to be the strongest among investor groups that can spread the risks inherent in any development project among several investors.

“Most of the interest is coming from tax credit syndicators. Investors like that because it diversifies their own risk,” she said. “They can be one of a handful of investors in a handful of projects.”

The irony is that tax credits are plentiful right now, Nickolaus said.

“Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would buy about 65 percent of credits, but they pulled out a couple of years ago,” she said. “Then, with the downturn, you had many traditional investors, financial and insurance companies that had enough business losses that they didn’t need credits to offset tax obligations. … Now we have a lot of supply, but no demand.”

A vacant lot and an empty building will continue to occupy a spot at 1526 Walnut St., where architect Jeffrey Morgan sported plans for Opus_001, a 10-story mixed-use building.

“It was a great project at the wrong time,” Morgan said recently.

Morgan and development partners bought the property on contract in 2006 from Marjo LLC, an Ames-based investment group.

However, a two-year search for investors in the project came to an end in March, when Morgan and his partners decided to return the property to Marjo.

“It was clear that it wasn’t going to happen in a reasonable amount of time,” Morgan said.

Morgan had designed a 220,000-square-foot development of retail, office and residential units located on eight levels above a two-story parking garage.

The failure of that project and the downturn in the economy also have led Morgan to change his business focus, which initially was designing multi-use and multi-family projects, to private consulting jobs.

And the economy has taken a toll on his firm, Jeffrey Morgan Architecture Studio, which filed to liquidate assets under Chapter 7 of U.S. bankruptcy laws.

Opus_001 “had great support of the community,” he said. “It had captured the imagination of quite a bit of the community.”

The $33 million project just hadn’t captured the imagination of investors.

Wait and see

The economy has stalled development of Southern Ridge, a mixed-use development launched by Knapp Properties Inc. at Southwest Ninth Street and the Iowa Highway 5 bypass.

“Nothing is happening down there,” said Kim Dreher, a broker with Knapp.

The 100-acre project features single-family residential housing, low- to medium-density housing and commercial lots.

“If the residential market had stayed strong, we probably would have done OK,” Dreher said.

However, Knapp Properties can wait for market conditions to improve.

Dreher said the company has had a strong first quarter in office leasing, but has done little in sales.

Knapp’s Crossing at Alice’s Road has seen the construction of a West Bank office, and land development is under way for a data center. Other projects for the development, part of the prime Alice’s Road corridor in Waukee that eventually will extend into West Des Moines, are slower to materialize.

“For a long-term project, that’s a great location,” Dreher said. “When the retailers come back, we have an opportunity there to do something.”

More action from Minneapolis

A project that is progressing on schedule is the Gray’s Landing and Gray’s Lake Office Park development of Sherman and Associates, the Minneapolis firm responsible for Metro Lofts.

The developer has purchased several parcels in the past year, including the Merchants Transfer complex at 1350 W. Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway, the Keck Oil Inc. building at 320 S.W. Ninth St., and two contiguous properties formerly owned by Jen-Weld Inc. at Southwest 14th and Market streets.

Sherman is in the concept phase of the project, which includes a residential and commercial component south of West Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway between Southwest Ninth and Southwest 11th streets.

The 125-acre development includes 70 acres of residential west of Southwest 11th Street and south of Tuttle Street. The 50-acre Gray’s Lake Office Park will run along Southwest Ninth Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway.

“We’re working away,” Nickolaus said. “The demolition of Merchants is almost complete and has really cleaned up the site. We also hope to announce the sale of our first pad site within the next month or so.”