Ft. Myers Development News

[Landier]

My firm is designing one of the two Paradise Preserve projects, the one inside Cape Coral, it will still be a while before we go to construction on that phase. The other phase in North Fort Myers started permitting much earlier and they are going to construction in a matter of days.

As far as Duany, his plan was only for downtown Fort Myers, which is across the river and isin't even controlled by the same permitting bodies as North Fort Myers (Lee County) and The City of Cape Coral.

This was one of the projects I had eluded to earlier, but couldn't release

[SDK4]

Even if North Fort Myers gets away with out any restrictions, it will cause Fort Myers to have no downtown core for itself. All the buildings will be spread out over the DT area, N. Fort Myers, Cape Coral, and the beaches with no central area were they all should be.

[Landier]

I agree, downtown Fort Myers is the place the density and core should be, however the problem is the government for downtown Fort Myers (as opposed to Cape Coral, Bonita Springs, Unincorporated Lee County) is the poorest and least organized in the area.

The first thing that needs to happen with the downtown area is the comprehensive plan needs to be altered with the state to add more units - they have already reached the cap of units with the buildings under construction, and half the current buildings proposed downtown will not be able to go to construction until this unit cap is raised.

With the increase of units in the downtown, the commercial buildings will begin to follow, there are a few that are currently proposed, although nothing major - 4-6 story office complexes (but better than the 1-2 story construction that occupies most of the city currently)

And dont even get me started on the 25-floor cap on building height - it's the stupidest idea they ever came up with. I believe that even if it gets passed it will be reverted in only a few years due to all the current construction that is going to 32 stories that will be completed by that time and give some perspective - that and they will be looking for new growth by that time.

I think I could write about this all day - but back to work I guess...

Oh yeah, check this out from CNN, average increase in median home values in the last year... Cape Coral / Fort Myers #2... Also Florida dominates the top of the list... http://money.cnn.com/pf/features/lists/nar_2q05/

[SDK4]

You guys are lucky to get 25 stories in Ft. Myers. Here in Sarasota, its 18 stories and only on a small patch of bayfront land that will never get more than one building. Everywhere else in DT, 10 stories or lower. Its like they want to increase our urban sprawl, I don't get it.

[Landier]

Well, don't forget, older cities all started in the under-10 story range, then used up their land, and then started on redevelopment. Don't get me wrong, I like to see from nothing to 40-story towers, it's just not so common historically - we might just have to go about it the old way.....

[SDK4]

I understand, but it just makes no sense to restrict growth. I know we can't have 40 story towers in Sarasota ( at least not right now). But keeping growth down discourages people from moving to a city and once again, jacks up suburban home prices.

[Landier]

First River now One West

Condo/retail project to be available for sales in fall

By Dick Hogan
dhogan@news-press.com
Published by news-press.com on August 18, 2005

The First River condominium where the old Holiday Inn SunSpree Resort operated in downtown Fort Myers has been renamed One West and will be available for sales this fall.

Project manager Dawn Geyser said she's operating out of the lobby of the Holiday Inn, which was closed in May although "we're still keeping the grounds irrigated because my intentions are to keep the grounds pretty" until the hotel's knocked down later this year in preparation for One West.

One West was approved by the Fort Myers City Council in March. It will feature 15,000 square feet of retail space and a yacht club with 49 slips available for purchase by owners of the 420 units planned in three towers that will be 33, 30 and 30 stories, she said.

For years the Holiday Inn has been the hotel of choice for Boston Red Sox fans who could stay there during spring training and walk to City of Palms Park.

"We always hate to lose a nice property like that, especially right near the ballpark," said Todd Stephenson, coordinator of Florida activities for the Red Sox.

Fort Myers Downtown Redevelopment Agency Director Don Paight said the hotel will be missed as one of the city's few remaining venues where tourists or business travelers could stay downtown. "It does pretty much put us out of rooms for downtown. You've got the Ramada but unfortunately, because of some of the conditions over there, that's not really marketed as a convention hotel."

That, he said, leaves downtown with only the Winyah Hotel & Suites, which is still operating but will eventually make way for another condo project.

The future should be brighter for hotels, he said, as the city negotiates with WCI Communities to redevelop the Exhibition Hall in a project that would include a hotel. That, in addition to the Monaco Hotel under construction on the east side of downtown, "would help us get back in the hotel business."

Geyser said she hopes to have a sales center this fall on the vacant lot next to the hotel and expects to start selling units. She doesn't expect to take reservations: "I'm going to go straight to contract."

Meanwhile, she said, "I have a very long list" of potential buyers. "I've been doing it since February."

One West is being developed by Fort Myers Development LLC, a partnership of BSR Property and Read Property Group.

[bigboyz2004]

With all these projects underway, the Ft. Myers area is looking hot, hot, hot!

[Dale]

www.firststreetvillage.com

[Jasonhouse]

Not a bad looking urban development... Awefully colorful though. Kinda over the top... Hopefully that's just the rendering.

[TampaMike]

Awesome place.I see the shops in the front and all surrounded by the homes.What is the asking price?

[Jasonhouse]

^probably a million-gazillion-fafillian dollars.

[SDK4]

Its better than those subdivisions with 1000 + replica homes that look exactly alike.

[Dale]

Originally Posted by Jasonhouse

^probably a million-gazillion-fafillian dollars.

Jason -

Now, come on. You have to admit 'fafillian' sounds a little gay, don't you ?

[Jasonhouse]

Don't tell Ludacris that...

[Dale]

^ Word.

[SDK4]

Why not throw in a googleplex?

[smiley]

The Beau Rivage condo tower, right, looms next to the Alta Mar condos construction site along the Caloosahatchee River in Fort Myers in May. File photo by TODD STUBING/news-press.com



Condo sales trigger doubts

Pre-construction sales force some to take a heavy loss

By Dick Hogan
dhogan@news-press.com
Published by news-press.com on October 2, 2005

A year after Fort Myers' first downtown condominium tower opened, two of its units have sold for less than the initial buyer paid.

In one instance, county records indicate, the buyer lost $46,000. In the other, the price dropped almost $34,000.

Taken together, the two sales have raised the question of whether they may be a harbinger of a softening market.

Real estate brokers and developers are split.

Fort Myers-based real estate broker Ed Bonkowski said many of those who have already bought will live to regret it as prices inevitably fall.

"I always found it hard to believe you could speculate on a $500,000 condo and expect to make money," said Bonkowski, who works in the downtown area. "To carry a loan on a half-million-dollar property is an easy 10 percent a year, or $50,000. So in two years the price has to go up $100,000 to break even. That's not going to happen."

Craig Teich, who sold the two high-rise units for less than he paid, said he wouldn't hesitate to recommend investing long term in new condominiums.

"The bigger question is what happens five years down the road," he said. "There's too many strong drivers for real estate: the influx of baby boomers, buyers from Latin America, and prices are lower compared to California."

Teich is president of Fort Lauderdale-based Dwellphi Development LLC and Dwellphi & Beau Rivage Partners.

Each of his companies bought a unit in the 124-unit Beau Rivage condo tower that opened in October 2004 on First Street just west of Billy's Creek.

Dwellphi & Beau Rivage paid $579,000 for unit 1406 and sold it for $533,000 on May 16, according to Lee County Property Appraiser's records.

Dwellphi Development bought unit 606 for $528,700 and sold it for $495,000 on June 9, records indicate.

At the same time, other condos are being snapped up at similar downtown projects for pre-construction prices 50 percent higher per square foot than what's being paid at Beau Rivage.

At least a dozen high-rise towers planned for the Caloosahatchee riverfront in downtown Fort Myers will add nearly 3,600 condos over the next five years.

In predicting a downturn in prices, Bonkowski points to the 1980s boom in the Florida condominium market that led to a crash in prices in the early '90s.

Ultimately, the federal government set up the Resolution Trust Corp. to sell thousands of properties owned by failed savings and loan associations that had loaned more money than the properties turned out to be worth.

In Lee County, the agency ended up with the River's Edge condominium project, which became Gulf Harbour in south Fort Myers. It also handled Sheraton Harbor Place, which became the Ramada Inn & Suites at Amtel Marina in downtown Fort Myers.

Teich acknowledged being caught in at least a temporary glut of units but said his losses weren't as bad as they seem because the Beau Rivage developer, Homes for America Holdings, offered sales incentives.

Beau Rivage units have recovered since the earlier sales, said Teich.

Dwellphi & Beau Rivage paid $620,000 for penthouse unit 2202 and sold it on Aug. 3 for $775,000, he said.

Real estate broker and investor Jean Sanders holds out hope.

"It'll be OK," said Sanders, who lives in a Beau Rivage unit she bought for $325,000.

Sanders expects condo prices to go even higher.

Beau Rivage units for sale now range from $424,000 to $1.475 million.

A lot of investors are willing to pay more for a spectacular view, she said.

"I'm the perfect example. I'm a boomer who moved to town, who had money, who isn't going to settle for not a water view.

"Naples prices are outlandish. I'd say all my clients are from out of town. They come in and see Naples and Sarasota prices: $400 to $600 a foot for non-waterfront."

The Beau Rivage owners who sold for less than they paid lost their nerve too soon, Sanders said.

"I tell my clients, 'You don't want to be in a position of selling when this building is through," she said. "Get out before or be willing to hold on."

For example, High Point Place on West First Street requires a 10 percent deposit when the buyer signs up and another 10 percent when the builder, Cameratta Properties, gets approval from the city to start construction, said director of marketing Cheryl Yano.

She doesn't see any sign of softness in the market.

"There's been no fallback at all," Yano said. "Every single unit has gone forward."

High Point is sold out and scheduled to open the first of two towers next fall.

Not everyone is comfortable with the idea there will be enough demand to justify the prices being paid.

"It's not a game I'd want to play at those numbers," said John McIlwain, at the nonprofit Washington-based Urban Land Institute that studies property and urban planning issues.

Others take a middle view.

"You have to be in the select few high rises that are going to have the highest demand," said Brad Cozza, a real estate agent with Keller Williams World Class Realtors in Fort Myers. "I think the design makes a good project and the amenities."

He's buying an office condo in Cypress Club on First Street.

He also noted there's a cap on the number of downtown units allowed in the city's Coastal High Hazard Zone.

Because of state hurricane evacuation rules only 2,777 condo units are allowed, he said, and that makes them more likely to increase in value.

"In downtown, people are paying $400 to $450 a square foot," Cozz said, "and you could see those units potentially double."

On Monday, Fort Myers city leaders will hold a public hearing on a proposal to reduce the cap to 2,352 and change the downtown zone boundary.

PRE-CONSTRUCTION

As prices spiral up, some investors are becoming cautious about the pre-construction craze.

"I think resales are the way to go," said Debbie Rogan, who moved to Fort Myers a year ago from Ohio with her husband Rocky, a commercial developer.

"I'm just starting to get my feet wet," she said.

Rogan has bought pre-construction at Paseo, a gated community under construction in south Fort Myers, but said she's grown wary of the often frenzied atmosphere of pre-sale investing.

Buyers often have to wait in line for a chance to buy and developers are putting restrictions on resales. Sometimes, buyers are required to turn any profit made within a year over to the builder.

Rogan's real estate agent, Denny Grimes of VIP Realty in Fort Myers, said he's concerned about the amount of property bought pre-construction.

"It's like buying on a credit card — you don't get the bill for 18 months," Grimes said. "They're doing it on a whim, hoping they'll make a hundred thousand dollars."

It's not a foregone conclusion that prices will go down, but he said he expects a day of reckoning when a lot of property is dumped on top of what developers are trying to sell pre-construction.

"If they can't mark them up, they may have to mark them down because they don't want to carry them," Grimes said. "Our market has not seen the test yet. The test will be when this market is delivered. That will test our market's mettle."

9
Number of high-rise condominium towers in various stages of development in downtown Fort Myers

3,592
Number of condo units under development in downtown
Fort Myers

$300
Approximate per-square-foot price of recent sales of Beau Rivage condominiums

$400-500
Pre-construction per-square-foot prices for other waterfront condo projects in downtown Fort Myers

$400-600
Range of per-square-foot prices for existing non-waterfront Naples condominiums

http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs....510020500/1008

[SDK4]

For a city of Ft. Myer's size, all of those new buildings at once? I'm not so sure about that? The market may stay stable, but they need to be careful otherwise there will be a glut of available condos.

[Dale]

The article has that too-typical glass-half-empty feel to it. And there are not a 'dozen' towers planned. There are over two-dozen.

Are there no requirements of journalists anymore ?