Flyguy:
I was in PCB this past weekend and heard an interesting rumor regarding the Laketown Wharf project on the east end of the beach. Apparently, the developer, "the dealmaker" Jerry Wallace is in major trouble. From what I heard, the project is about to go back to the Bank.
Found this on a blog dated Jan 2008:
"I have a unit under contract at Laketown Wharf. I will not be closing for a number of reasons. One reason is that the market is down the other is that Corus Bank has chosen to sponsor Rodney Bell of Gulf Coast Hospitality for the completion/overseeing of things for the Developer not to mention the HOA. I find this extremely concerning giving the circumstances behind Wallace Town USA. As we all are aware, Rodney Bell and Darren Zuppardo concocted an elaborate plan to sale acreage to naive individuals for a profit. They promised everything under the sun except for one thing….the return of your escrow money at the time they walked away from the development. To date there are at least some 55-60 individuals who have not been refunded their deposits. The non-return of deposit has spurred several named lawsuits in LA. If Rodney Bell is anywhere near Laketown Wharf, I and anyone else I know will certainly drop out."
Rut-Row.
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Interesting reading about this "dealmaker" Jerry Wallace:
Author of "
Dealmaker, A Billionaire's Blueprint For Success" :roll:.
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One of his developments--60 miles from El Paso
that's six-oh miles from El Paso TEXAS!:
WALLACETOWN at Cornudas, LLC A Jerry Wallace Concepts
Wallacetown Resort Park Condominiums A Jerry Wallace Concept. Rich in history and texas tradition,The exterior of each condominium is styled after the traditional old western fronts. However, in the interior, all units are equiped with modern appliances, garden tubs and luxurious western accomodations.
Brochure:
http://www.ifreelance.com/share/providers/24792/samples/76591.jpg?v=1
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Here's what the local paper wrote about WallaceTown:
http://www.elpasoinc.com/showArticle.asp?articleId=132
The white-haired Jerry Wallace, 66, said he plans to turn the wide spot in the road into a $210 million resort and condo complex called – what else? – Wallacetown, for horse lovers and Old West fans.
He’s signed a $1.3 million purchase contract on the Cornudas property, then subsequently optioned 10 additional properties in the area, an assistant said – and has put a total of $3 million down on those deals, which allow him to close in one year, although the contracts also allow him to extend the close dates if he’s willing to pay additional fees.
Wallace brings to Cornudus the high-flying deal-making methods that have left swaths of the Florida coast bristling with high-rise condos. He delights in discussing those techniques, and boasts he can make anyone a millionaire.
Wallace readily confesses he was just looking for a town to buy as a publicity stunt when he stumbled across Cornudas while trolling the Internet.
He was hoping, he said, for hoopla to boost his national profile in pursuit of his own reality-based TV series, a la Donald Trump, (
SHELLY NOTE:
Is this guy full of himself?...well, he's certainly full of something.) and to pump sales of a how-to book for wannabe millionaires he says he’ll publish soon.
Wallace said he sees Cornudas (SHELLY NOTE: remember folks-- it's 60 miles from El Paso!) as his next big thing in the pre-construction sales principality he’s pieced together the past four years as condo fever spiked in Miami and on the white-sand beaches of the Florida Panhandle.
“What happened,” Wallace said, “is I started in the real estate business and I was very good at selling pre-construction condos. I developed a format for selling them to the masses.”
Wallace said the pre-construction sale, a standard procedure in Florida, requires the would-be buyer to plunk down a 10 percent cash deposit and obtain a 10 percent letter of credit from the bank.
“That’s an irrevocable letter of credit,” Wallace said. “And then I can actually use that 10 percent as part of the equity, so I don’t have to come up with the 25 percent cash (normally required for other types of development, such as a hotel). I only have to come up with the difference between the 10 percent the buyer puts down (and what the bank requires).” The buyer’s 10 percent cash is placed in a Florida bank account, in the buyer’s name, and is fully refundable if the project fails to take off, or if the buyer simply changes his mind when it comes time to sign a hard contract, Wallace said.
In essence, the deposit amounts to a vote of confidence in the project.
If Wallace gets enough such votes – if he pre-sells 70 percent of the condos for a given project – the next step is to get the buyers to sign a hard contract, for which mortgage financing must be in order.
“When we go to hard contract, about 15 percent of the buyers, on average, fall out,” Wallace said. “All we do is refund their deposits.”
Once a project gets the green light, those condo buyers who choose to sign a hard contract by law have 15 days to review all the documents, “and once you sign, then it’s just like we’re building a house for you.”
On the Gulf Coast, the “house” could be on the 14th floor of a $350 million beachfront resort complex overlooking the water. What has mesmerized thousands of condo investors lately is the appreciation that can occur during the two years or so it takes to build the complex.
“All you have up, during the course of that time, is 10 percent cash,” Wallace points out. “So what that means is you’ve got this $300,000 condo, which, by the time you get ready to close on it two years down the road, cash on cash your return is about 296 percent. That’s only at 10 percent appreciation – and they are doing that. Where else are you going to get that for your money?” (
SHELLY NOTE:
We all know how that's turning out--right DealMaker?.)
“Investors and/or speculators represent 50 percent to 75 percent of condominium buyers today,” the Observer reported.
But the publication quoted one expert who predicted perhaps 25 percent of the planned units would not be built due to rapidly escalating construction costs.
Wallace said he doesn’t see a bubble when it comes to his developments, which are not in the Miami-Dade area, but rather in the Florida Panhandle, and along the coast of Mississippi.
“Most of the people who go to South Florida come from the Northeast, and most of them are Jewish that live down there,” Wallace said. “They all want to stay in a clan down there.”
On the other hand, Wallace said, “Most of the Christians and (other) gentiles come to the Panhandle of Florida, and also now to the Gulf Coast, since we have gambling.
Now the whole Gulf Coast, from Panama City Beach where the white sands start, to Gulf Shores, Alabama, all of that is just about built out.”
“That’s why we’ve gone into Mississippi,” Wallace continued. “I’ve got either four or five projects planned in Mississippi now. One of them being a $550 million project, which I can’t talk about because I’m buying a whole city’s beach and I haven’t got it all put together yet. We’ve been working on it for about four months now.”
Wallace says the Cordunas project will boast an old-time cow town’s main street, with staged gunfights, stables, buckboards and wood sidewalks – all artfully combined with 21st century amenities. He already has moved Old West-style structures from the defunct Franklin Town tourist project from El Paso to Cornudas.
Wallace describes his Cornudus project as “rich in history and Texas tradition,” saying the exterior of each condominium would be styled after traditional Old West fronts. The interiors will be strictly 21st century, with modern appliances, garden tubs and luxurious accommodations.
The condos will sell for $435,000 to $535,000, Wallace predicts (
SHELLY NOTE:
Everybody!......How far from El Paso?? Right--60 miles!!)
Rodney Bell, marketing director for Wallace’s Destin, Fla.-based “Dealmakers” organization, said potential Cornudas buyers include “people for whom Jerry has made lots of money and who know he has a terrific track record … and those who wisely come and take advantage of the resort itself, and we hope to draw from El Paso.
“And then, of course, a larger market will come from Germany and Italy, where they just love the Old West,” :funn: Bell said.
Wallace’s web page devoted to the project is written in present tense, as if Wallacetown already exists – an approach one also finds on his website in reference to some of his other projects along the Gulf Coast – projects which Wallace admits have not yet made it out of the ground.
But Wallace said he has a good start on Cornudas.
“I’ve already got probably a couple of million in that now. We’re getting ready to release the sale of the condos,” he said. “I’ve already moved Franklin Town out there. We’ve got entertainment; we’ve got restaurants, a dude ranch out there. We’ve got water
clap: Yay! Water!). I bought the water rights to 50,000 acres. We’re going to actually do a waterworks, we’re bottling water.”
And what’s the secret to his sales success?
“Making people money, that’s the real secret,” Wallace said. “And if you read my book, which I’d like for you to do, I’ve got some things in there that tell you why I’m as successful as I am. It all has to do with being fair with people, never lying to people, never cheating anybody. All of this is what makes a person successful.” (Keep this passage in mind while you read through the blog below)
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Here's a blog (SoWallace?) of locals talking about WallaceTown:
http://www.city-data.com/forum/texas/34425-wallace-town-usa.html
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He keeps up this crap and there'll be enough fodder for another tome.
:roll: Boy, do they know how to grow them in Destin.
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