But before the deal closed, the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon resulted in Lehman to pulling the plug on his deal.
''It wasn't my deal in particular; Lehman Brothers had to move out of its building after Sept. 11, and finance deals across the country were cancelled. They just weren't doing anything,'' Nassi tells GlobeSt.com.
Figuratively and literally, he had to wait for the smoke to clear before he could go back to the financial markets.
Meanwhile, he already had dug a huge hole at 900 Lincoln St. for his 200-unit, French-baroque style project with a swimming pool on the roof.
''I never gave up,'' Nassi tells GlobeSt.com. ''I never threw in the towel.''
Instead, he took several trips a month to New York and Chicago to meet with prospective lenders.
Lend Lease, the Australian giant, replaced Lehman Brothers. With Lend Lease on board, Chicago-based Corus Banks returned to the deal as the senior lender.
''Craig has a very good track record,'' David Ploger, first vice president at Corus tells GlobeSt.com.
Beauvallon, which will open in about 18 months, will be Nassi's third high-rise condominium project in the Golden Triangle. His other two projects, the Belvedere and the Prado, are open. He expects Beauvallon to open in about 18 months.
He's already sold 86 of the units in the Beauvallon, including a $2.1-million penthouse to a Chicago businessman.
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