JOE restructures - 750 positions affected

[George]

I am curious to know if anyone is aware of how many spec homes and lots St. Joe still owns in WaterColor. I believe St. Joe already sold all of their lots and spec houses in Phases 1, 2 and 3 and only has lots and spec houses in Phase 4 behind the Publix. The prices on these homes already is pretty low (relatively speaking), as they are priced in the $600,000 range. My guess is the price on these may be dropped to the $500,000 range.

Does anyone know if St. Joe still has signifanct lots or spec homes in their inventory in Phases 1, 2 or 3 of WaterColor?

 

[Camp Creek Kid]

This is interesting - Joe is going to dump 190 homes and 1,200 lots, the article doesn't say exactly where. It also doesn't break down how much of the 20-30 million writeoff is for these properties.

I wonder what exactly "dump" will mean - these properties (WC and WS) have actually been selling better than the general market on 30A (but apparently not well enough for Joe).

It will be interesting to see how low they go - since the rest of the Walton County market will surely follow.

I think the term "dump" is relative. Most likely they will sell the lots to national builders, such as David Weekly Homes, like they did in Palmetto Trace in PCB. I doubt that many (or any) of these lots will reach the MLS. Keep in mind that Watersound (North) has, I believe, approximately 1,200 potential lots. They will not dump Watercolor or Watersound Beach as these are the only development currently making money. St. Joe also has developments in Port St. Joe that are not doing too well.

 

[Smiling JOe]

Word on the street is that Peter Rummell is also stepping down (retiring). I haven't read through the other threads on JOE, and this may have been mentioned earlier. Does anyone know who JOE will be using to replace Peter?

 

[scooterbug44]

I think "dump" is on the money. St. Joe made a lot of folks unhappy when the market first started to slow and they decided to unload their Joe built homes for prices less than empty lots. I predict they will go as low as they need to in order to unload the above mentioned homes & properties, regardless of any effect it may have. St. Joe is only looking out for St. Joe's current balance sheet, not planning for the future, no matter what the press releases and spin doctors may say.

 

[SHELLY]

JOE wants completely out of the subdivision business and is selling off any and all properties that it still has on the books in any of its "places" across the state of Florida...so it no longer needs to keep up the sales office crews, appearance and amenities (read: reduce expenses and capital spending).

In the conference call, Rummell said they will announce which companies are going to take over management of Watercolor and the various golf courses in the next couple of days. He said they were going to keep ownership of the properties, but I suspect if someone comes along and wants to buy them he'll jump on it in a New York second.

JOE is essentially just a "Florida Land Pimp." Whether that is enough to justify the outrageous compensation packages it gives to its executives remains to be seen.

 

[Miss Kitty]

...I know, but I am not telling. I learned everything I know from Joe.

 

[Busta Hustle]

should we have equal anomosity towards comissioners and "planners" in SoWal? after all they have approved every "developers" infill neighborhood, every higher density project, every lot split request, to the tune of 10's of thousands of new homes waiting to be on the market even after a 2 year bust in the market...where we stand now with what has already been approved i think we may be looking at a 30 year build out based on "demand"...so i don't think we need to condemn joe for allowing extensions to build out on any lot owner...or for having to sell some lots cheaper than they did in 04/05...

 

[ER]

Camp Creek,

Neither David Weekly nor other national production builders are in a position to expand their already large inventory of unsold product, be it homes or lots.

Dumping real estate and selling land is all well and good, but until Joe finds a way to sustain earnings by diversifying it will continue its roller coaster ride. Sorry to see so many of the development guys and gals let go at the PCB office.

 

[scooterbug44]

should we have equal anomosity towards comissioners and "planners" in SoWal? after all they have approved every "developers" infill neighborhood, every higher density project, every lot split request, to the tune of 10's of thousands of new homes waiting to be on the market even after a 2 year bust in the market...where we stand now with what has already been approved i think we may be looking at a 30 year build out based on "demand"...so i don't think we need to condemn joe for allowing extensions to build out on any lot owner...or for having to sell some lots cheaper than they did in 04/05...

I don't think it's fair to blame the commissioners & planners for the number of homes on the market - that's supply & demand. Them approving or not approving lot splits doesn't have a major effect when there are thousands of vacant & buildable lots in the area. I DO blame them for allowing too high of density projects and not standing up to developers and their $$$ (constantly, read any "private" beach or development thread).

St. Joe is being criticized for changing its own rules, constantly trying to make a quick buck any way it can, and screwing over its communities, employees, and neighbors.

 

[bdc63]

The cold reality is that JOE is a public company, and as so, their primary concern is for stockholder value. There is nothing Wall Street likes better than the words "layoff" and "streamlining". The press release was written to please the Street -- I suspect the reality inside the company is a whole lot worse then what's written here.