SoWal Residents Will Be Facing Similar Issues In Near Future
- Thread starter flyforfun
- Start date
-
Trouble logging in? Send us a message with your username and/or email address for help.
Update on the property that started this thread:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070110/ap_on_re_us/million_dollar_trailers
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070110/ap_on_re_us/million_dollar_trailers
Developer pulls out of Briny Breezes deal
By Eliot Kleinberg, Susan R. Miller
Palm Beach Post Staff Writers
Monday, July 30, 2007
UPDATED: 9:23 p.m. July 30, 2007
The Briny Breezes sale is off.
Ocean Land Developers sent certified documents this morning telling the corporate board the deal to buy the mobile home park for $510 million and convert it to a resort had fallen through, Ocean Land Vice President Logan Pierson said.
Pierson said Ocean Land had asked the corporate board to push back by 45 days Friday's deadline, where Ocean Land's non-refundable deposit would jump from $500,000 to $5 million, but the board refused.
"We really felt we were put in a very difficult situation," Pierson said this morning.
Pierson adamantly denied Ocean Land ?buffeted by criticism from Briny's neighbors, advocates for responsible growth, and regulatory agencies that the project's scope was incompatible with the neighborhood ? was looking for an excuse to walk away.
He also dismissed as ludicrous the idea that Ocean Land had, from the start, conducted a massive "bait and switch," by giving Briny the only amount for which residents would sell, then proposing a project doomed to be shot down, and then coming back to weary residents to negotiate a lower price.
"When you're a development firm and you spend, with our partners, over $5 million on planning," Pierson said, "that speculation just doesn't hold water."
Residents had overwhelmingly voted in January to sell to Ocean Land, which envisioned up to 12 20-story towers, with 900 condo units, 300 time shares and a 350 room hotel.
Palm Beach County Commissioner Mary McCarty wasn't surprised by Ocean Land's decision.
"They were on a very tight timeline before they have to go hard with some serious money," said McCarty.
Robert Purcell, a member of Briny's corporate board, said they will have to re-group but for now: "I am sort of tired of the whole business. It's been a stressful time," he said.
He said it's too premature to determine what stockholders will do, noting that they did have other offers on the table that could be reconsidered.
Real estate experts suggest Ocean Land's demand for an extension was just a convenient way to make the deal go away because in today's real estate market this deal no longer made as much sense.
"Financing has become so incredibly difficult for just about any size developer. Huge developers are in a world of trouble, they are not even looking at new deals," said one expert, who didn't want to be identified.
Joseph Good of ComNet Realty has worked with Ocean Land and said it has a good track record when it comes to going forward with deals. He believes the decision to walk away was market driven.
"It's terrifying; there seems to be an absence of buyers and to do a high-rise multi-unit project, any lender is going to require pre-sale sand right now-- it's hard to get presales," Good said.
"It's a boom bust world."
By Eliot Kleinberg, Susan R. Miller
Palm Beach Post Staff Writers
Monday, July 30, 2007
UPDATED: 9:23 p.m. July 30, 2007
The Briny Breezes sale is off.
Ocean Land Developers sent certified documents this morning telling the corporate board the deal to buy the mobile home park for $510 million and convert it to a resort had fallen through, Ocean Land Vice President Logan Pierson said.
Pierson said Ocean Land had asked the corporate board to push back by 45 days Friday's deadline, where Ocean Land's non-refundable deposit would jump from $500,000 to $5 million, but the board refused.
"We really felt we were put in a very difficult situation," Pierson said this morning.
Pierson adamantly denied Ocean Land ?buffeted by criticism from Briny's neighbors, advocates for responsible growth, and regulatory agencies that the project's scope was incompatible with the neighborhood ? was looking for an excuse to walk away.
He also dismissed as ludicrous the idea that Ocean Land had, from the start, conducted a massive "bait and switch," by giving Briny the only amount for which residents would sell, then proposing a project doomed to be shot down, and then coming back to weary residents to negotiate a lower price.
"When you're a development firm and you spend, with our partners, over $5 million on planning," Pierson said, "that speculation just doesn't hold water."
Residents had overwhelmingly voted in January to sell to Ocean Land, which envisioned up to 12 20-story towers, with 900 condo units, 300 time shares and a 350 room hotel.
Palm Beach County Commissioner Mary McCarty wasn't surprised by Ocean Land's decision.
"They were on a very tight timeline before they have to go hard with some serious money," said McCarty.
Robert Purcell, a member of Briny's corporate board, said they will have to re-group but for now: "I am sort of tired of the whole business. It's been a stressful time," he said.
He said it's too premature to determine what stockholders will do, noting that they did have other offers on the table that could be reconsidered.
Real estate experts suggest Ocean Land's demand for an extension was just a convenient way to make the deal go away because in today's real estate market this deal no longer made as much sense.
"Financing has become so incredibly difficult for just about any size developer. Huge developers are in a world of trouble, they are not even looking at new deals," said one expert, who didn't want to be identified.
Joseph Good of ComNet Realty has worked with Ocean Land and said it has a good track record when it comes to going forward with deals. He believes the decision to walk away was market driven.
"It's terrifying; there seems to be an absence of buyers and to do a high-rise multi-unit project, any lender is going to require pre-sale sand right now-- it's hard to get presales," Good said.
"It's a boom bust world."