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By Cindy Clayton, Duane Bourne and Greg Gaudio
VIRGINIA BEACH
It could take about a week before officials know what caused the fire that gutted Teddy Riley’s long-shuttered Future Records Recording Studios on Virginia Beach Boulevard early Tuesday.
Battalion Chief David Hutcheson, a spokesman for the Virginia Beach Fire Department, said investigators will determine where and how the blaze started, and whether a lightning strike, electrical problem or arson was responsible for the destruction of a one-time Beach music institution.
“When it’s destroyed as much as that was, that can be difficult,” Hutcheson said.
The defunct studio was on the selling block at the time of the fire. The owner of the property, Dunkirk Properties LLC, owes more than $18,000 in back taxes, according to the city treasurer’s office. The company is linked to former Beach attorney Troy Titus, whose law license was revoked in 2005 after he bounced checks worth $3.3 million.
The fire was reported shortly before 5 a.m. Tuesday by someone passing the studio near Princess Anne High School who saw smoke and flames shooting through the roof, Hutcheson said.
Firefighters had the flames under control about 40 minutes later, Hutcheson said.
In February, lawyers agreed to seek a buyer for the studio, which one described as functional even though the equipment was no longer state of the art. Late last month, an auction for the property was held, but no one met the opening bid of $500,000.
Riley, once considered the king of R&B and hip-hop, has been plagued with financial and legal problems. He filed for bankruptcy in 2002 but still owed the Internal Revenue Service about $1 million in unpaid taxes. His home in Church Point was sold in 2006 for $1.5 million. The proceeds were used to pay tax debts.
The auction was designed to help pay off a $700,000 loan against the studio that Riley later defaulted on.
The 3,300-square-foot studio had lounges, leather furniture and modern fixtures and opened in 1991. Riley, who moved to Virginia Beach around 1990, used the studio to produce songs for his group BLACKstreet and for Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson and Heavy D.
Duane Bourne, (757) 222-5150, duane.bourne@pilotonline.com
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INVESTIGATON....NOT!
It's been a while and still no word on the investigation. The Virginian Pilot needs to follow up.
News Blackout?
How's that investigation going? Why haven't we heard more about this extremely suspicious fire?
huh?
I didn't think Riley actually owned the building anymore. I thought it was in the hands of the people who owned the debt? Years ago an internet service provider named Picus went out of business. Their DSL equipment was up for auction by Atlantic Remarketing. I heard there was 1 bid at $1mil for all of it, and the bid was rejected as being too low. As I understand it, it was the only bid. It's called chasing the market down. Greed can hurt! Cut losses and run. I thought a big portion of Riley's equipment was already auctioned off? Maybe that was just from storage units. Much of the music I'm familiar with from him was pop hits that were in no way dirty or violent, and they live on as hits.
Ira,
I am not sure why I am arguing with you. Virginia is not a valued policy state, I think that is where you are getting confused. As long as you are bring up the indemnity in this situation, to make this loss "whole" again, the insurer would replace the building and equipment lost or compensate the insured for what they lost if they are not going to replace it (market value of the building and equipment). Look up indemnity again, it is in your licensing manual. Or, better yet, check with the claims or underwriting department of your company.
Indemity
If you iunsure for RC you pay RC. You do not have that right in VA. Unless you want to be sued under the rule of indemity. You cannot decide to lower an insureds payout if they choose not to rebuild. I have seen companies challenged on this issue.
It's in your licensing manual.
Market value? On a structure? I was an agent for 20 years BTW. Still am some days.
easy come, easy go...
How many times do we read/hear about some young musician or actor, celebrity etc. make a lot of money and by virtue of not being used to it, or mature enough to accept the "huge" responsibility of managing it day in and day out besides just finding ways to burn it up reckelessly (no pun intended) watch it melt away and end up only in the deepest of you know what. Darn shame. Had it by the horns only to end up gored by it all...which celeb, lotto winner, 15 minute fame type is next? Age old story.
Blackstreet-No Diggity
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rq0zUJCl9Qs
Sorry, Ira
I am an insurance underwriter and have been licensed in 26 states. The majority of the time when someone decides to not rebuild, they are only given market value. This is to prevent insurance fraud in cases like arson for both real and personal property so that the person cannot just walk away with more money than the actual market value of what was lost because of depreciation and dilapidation. I am not sure in what aspect of the insurance industry you have worked, but I can assure you that I have had to explain this to many people over the years. However, when someone rebuilds, as in the majority of the cases, they are due the full rebuilding cost as long as it falls within an acceptable percentage of the ITV ratio.
One more thing
"then all he would get is market value for the building and the contents. It all depends on the contract, but this is how most of them work."
How would you determine market value without using the land which cannot be insured? Please folks, remember that what you read on the internet is often incorrect. An example are the headlines about the folks in Gulfport being flooded in the last week. They are saying that FEMA told them they did not HAVE to carry insurance. Many of us do not have to HAVE flood insurance but many CHOOSE to carry it even if their bank says it is not required. That argument is between them and their agent, not FEMA.
Moderator: Sorry about the multiple posts but it is needed to convey a useful message.
is this the guy
is this the guy who had a house down by the beach,and was totally vandelized by his "possie",and then the house was put up for sale or foreclosed?