Clearwater / Gateway / Northern Pinellas Development News

[I-275westcoastfl]

Once again nice pics!! Shows some nice development in Clearwater.

[gstolze]

Nice Pix. It is amazing how quickly Clearwater is changing. In a few years it ill become again the "Queen of the Gulf". In my opinion Clearwater has the most beautiful geographical setting of all the towns on the gulf coast.

I used to live at the western end of Pine St. near the big church, on the edge of the old harbour oaks neighbourhood. I loved it there, being able to walk to Publix and downtown. I also loved to go to the docks on the intracoastal.

[FlaNatv]

more pics of clearwater taken 7/7/7

image hosted on flickr


image hosted on flickr


image hosted on flickr


image hosted on flickr

[FloridaFuture]

Nice pictures FlaNatv and Flybrian. When it rains pictures it pours them I guess.

[Jasonhouse]

Downtown Clearwater's first true highrise is looking good.

But I tell you what, every day that the city puts off developing alternate r/w transit between DT and the city's keys, the longer Clearwater's success will continue to remain in doubt. Even with the two major bridges now being rebuilt, access is still a major problem during peak times, and makes everything pretty much a misery. (same when there is a wreck anywhere along the line... the whole damn beach comes to a grinding halt)

[I-275westcoastfl]

I think construction is a big problem with traffic and clearwater beach but an alternative would be good. Only problem is convincing people that building something like a monrail from DT to the beach is worth it. I think a first step would be an assigned beach parking area where people can park for about half the price of parking on clearwater beach and then hop on a shuttle bus, hell even the trolley busses. If that proved successful then maybe we could get some talks of an alternative that and retail in DT could get a boost either way so its worth a try.

[TampaMike]

Everytime I drive down there and go to Clearwater Beach, the more and more I hate that round-about. Espicially when leaving from the North side, major headaches.

Would a proposal of having a ferry service from the proposed/approved? marina near DT to Clearwater work? Or even up more near where the ferry leaves for Caladisi(sp?) Island? If Bus transit, then that would make it worse, because only few will use that, because many of coolers, chairs, etc and that would be a disaster putting all that on a bus, except if they are like Charter buses.

[gstolze]

I think the roundabout works just fine. I used it several times a day when I lived in Clearwater between 2000 and 2003.

As for shuttles or ferry between downtown and the beach, the city has tried it a few years ago. They offered free downtown parking and a free ferry to the beach...NOBODY used it......

[randommichael]

^ I think its time to try again. Many of the parking spots on the beach no longer exist.

[I-275westcoastfl]

Originally Posted by gstolze

I think the roundabout works just fine. I used it several times a day when I lived in Clearwater between 2000 and 2003.

As for shuttles or ferry between downtown and the beach, the city has tried it a few years ago. They offered free downtown parking and a free ferry to the beach...NOBODY used it......

Did they advertise it because i never heard of such a thing.

[dpw1983]

Parking is the problem, not the roundabout.

If the cars arriving at the beach had a place to go, the congestion at the round-about and along the causeway would lift.

A couple of garages, problem solved.

[Jasonhouse]

^No, a couple of garages definitely won't solve the problem. It would actually make the problem worse.

[I-275westcoastfl]

It would if only there was a way to add a long ass turn lane to enter the garage. Either way unless they make some kind of big avenue or something i dont see clearwater beach clearing up traffic wise ever!

[Jasonhouse]

^No, it won't clear up ever. And the most space efficient means of increasing capacity in the future to at least keep traffic from getting down right unlivable is some form of mass transit connecting the beach to the mainland, logically downtown (probably starting on the east end of dt). Either that, or spend a few hundred million adding another 4 lane bridge out there and sacrifice acre upon acre of taxable land to road widening.

[FloridaFuture]

Clearwater developer to cut prices, provide the same amenities
Tampa Bay Business Journal - July 6, 2007by Michael HinmanStaff Writer


Kathleen Cabble
Uday Lele, president and CEO of Enchantment Beachfront Residences on Clearwater Beach, reconfigured the complex to reflect the market.

CLEARWATER BEACH -- Not even the once resilient luxury condominium market appears to be immune to the housing sales slowdown. But a candy maker-turned developer is trying a new approach to get his Clearwater Beach tower off the ground.

Uday Lele will now sell the first 40 units of his project at roughly $675 a square foot with a 20 percent deposit, after cutting the price of an average unit to just under $1 million.


When Lele first announced his Gulfview Boulevard project last year, he was asking nearly $3.1 million a unit on average, or roughly $990 a square foot. Using a design that resembled a butterfly, Enchantment Beachfront Residences initially offered more than 90 units with what the developer described a 240-degree view of the shoreline from each.

The 40 sales he's after now are needed to jumpstart Lele's financing for the $180 million project. After those units are sold, the remaining 50 will be sold for prices at least 20 percent higher.

With sales and interest almost slowed to a halt, Lele isn't giving up. The tower's design has been reconfigured to help deliver the same amenities at a lower cost, he said.

No market immunity
"Most people don't realize that God isn't making any more beachfront property," Lele said. "I don't care how the economy is going, beachfront always is in short supply."

Limited land options or not, many condominium projects not already going vertical are being forced to rethink sales strategies or cease operations altogether.

While it might be an interesting incentive to bring buyers to the project, it still could be quite difficult for Lele to find the buyers that he needs in today's market, said T. Sean Lance, managing director for NAI Tampa Bay.

"They are not completely immune to the market or what's going on in the market," Lance said. "That project in particular is one with a first-time developer with an overly ambitious design. He's still going to face absorption issues based on the amount of inventory that's still out there. A lot of buyers are reluctant to go pre-construction right now when there is a lot of other product out there, and many with better deals that have already been built and are available now."

Beachfront property has taken a considerable hit from the housing declines, and even some high-profile projects that neighbored Enchantment's property are now a part of history, Lance said. That includes Indigo Beach Residences & Suites, a 15-story, 112-unit condo project that Taylor Woodrow pulled the plug on in May.

"I'm sure for a lot of these people [building condos], if they can just get away with breaking even, they would be very happy," Lance said. "Enchantment looks fantastic, absolutely incredible -- on paper. When you apply the finances and other issues, it becomes a completely different story."

Many high-priced units second homes
Lele manages a hotel that currently sits on land where he wants to build Enchantment, and he remains confident that he can have the hotel closed and razed by early 2008 and begin construction soon after.

His philosophy has been one of amazing potential buyers with design and amenities, and then dazzling them even more with various incentives. He's even offering a $50,000 discount to buyers or the option to get a second parking space reserved for their unit for free -- an incentive Lele says has an $80,000 value to it.


"We will make a little less profit, but I believe in this," Lele said.

But it will take more than belief to still come out ahead on new condo projects, NAI's Lance said.

"A year ago, I was talking to a new developer every week about them trying to unload their entire project," he said. "Unfortunately, a lot of them were just too pregnant with their deal. They were upside down on their project or upside down on their property, and a lot of them faced foreclosure or being forced to sell at a significant loss."

When property taxes and insurance suddenly added to the crashing market, there was little left, Lance said. However, that doesn't mean Enchantment couldn't spend some more time on the drawing board, patiently waiting for the market to rebound.

"It all depends on where his capital is coming from, how patient his capital investors are, and how much he leveraged to get the land," Lance said. "It's certainly a different dynamic and different metrics for developers of each project, and if these are things he has to his advantage, then he might be able to pull through."

Changing landscape
In 2005, nearly $1.5 billion in condos were planned for Clearwater Beach's waterfront. Even as analysts warned of market over-saturation when it came to condominium building, there seemed to be little concern from those who were able to grab property on the beach.

While upscale condos might be more immune to market conditions such as higher taxes and costlier insurance, many beachfront condos valued in the seven-digit range tend to be more second homes than primary homes, said Caroline Kling, chairwoman of the Pinellas Realtor Organization and the president of Tierra Verde Realty, which specializes in beachfront properties.

"The Legislature looked to provide some [tax and insurance] relief, but it doesn't do much for people who are purchasing second homes," Kling said. "What the Legislature did was a great first step, but there is still so much that needs to be done."

mhinman@bizjournals.com | 813.342.2477

http://tampabay.bizjournals.com/tamp...953600^1486700

[jonknee]

And you thought Tampa was messed up...

http://www.sptimes.com/2007/07/12/No...on_city_.shtml

Condo may be on city property

By MIKE DONILA
Published July 12, 2007

CLEARWATER - Developers have spent more than a year constructing a $100-million high-rise condominium and retail complex in downtown Clearwater.

But they may be building on some city-owned property.

And that isn't good, it seems, for anyone - the developer, the city, a local church, a title insurance company, Clearwater voters and, possibly, the condo unit owners who are waiting to move in.

At issue? A roughly 20-foot strip of land and who owns it.

Developers of the Water's Edge project say they do.

But city officials aren't so sure.

Now attorneys for all sides want to hear what a judge says.

In the meantime, construction crews will continue to build the 25-story project's 153 luxury condos.

- - -

On Wednesday, Water's Edge sued the city of Clearwater in Pinellas County Circuit Court, asking a judge to affirm that its developer and affiliate, Opus South of Tampa, is owner of a disputed strip of land on the building's western side.

If the judge doesn't see it that way, Opus then wants the court to find a solution that doesn't involve tearing down the building.

Water's Edge also is suing Calvary Baptist Church, which sold the land to Opus in the fall of 2004 for $15-million. Water's Edge wants the church to reimburse it for any damages.

It's cut and dry if Opus wins. Developers finish the project in a year and new residents move in to what will be downtown Clearwater's first major residential development in decades.

It gets murky if they lose.

If a judge gives the property to the city, Clearwater would own at least a piece of the Water's Edge project. And if Opus offered to buy back that strip, voters would have to approve the sale, according to the city's charter.

If voters nix the sale? All parties just shook their heads Wednesday, saying they haven't thought that far ahead.

- - -

So, how did this all happen?

Attorneys trace the problem - everyone called it "a mess" Wednesday - to the 1950s when the city and church often swapped land.

In 1955, the church traded to the city the 32-foot-wide, 174-foot-long strip, a portion of which now is under the western edge of the condo tower. In return, the church got city property on nearby Pierce Street.

In April 1959, the church asked the city to give it back 3 feet of that strip in easement. The city agreed.

Also that year, city officials drew up a quit claim deed, the purpose of which was "to release forever any easement (the city) may have or claim" on the strip. But, the easement's size wasn't clearly defined and it appears that the city handed over not just 3 feet but the entire strip of land.

That would appear to sink the city. But wait.

City officials now contend that a City Commission resolution passed just prior to the issuance of the quit claim deed stated that the city's intent was to give back only the 3 feet of easement - not the entire strip. In other words, the city was to keep 29 feet.

"What happened was the deed created an inconsistent document to what the commission approved," said City Attorney Pam Akin.

But Clearwater attorney Ed Armstrong, who represents Opus, says the "resolution is inferior to the recorded document."

And if that's not enough, there is this:

A series of additional city resolutions and deeds in 1959 appear to have the affect of reducing the city's possible claim on the land to a strip 19 feet wide.

Still following along?

Maps, it turns out, aren't much help, either.

Up until the early 1960s, city zoning maps showed Clearwater - not the church - owned the now-disputed strip. A few years later, updated maps showed the church as owner.

"At some point, everyone seemed to have forgotten what happened," Akin said "And it went back to the church. But there were no documents, no council acts."

However, county property appraisal records show the city owns the land. But current city maps show Opus owns it.

As for Calvary Baptist?

Attorney and spokesman Joseph Park said the church stands behind the sale, but if a judge decides otherwise, the church could go after First American Title Insurance, which did the title search prior to Calvary's sale to Opus.

Attempts to reach officials with First American Title were unsuccessful Wednesday.

Times researcher Angie Holan contributed to this story.

[I-275westcoastfl]

haha thats ridiculous but welcome to clearwater!

[Flybrian]

Yes. Only in Clearwater.

[Jasonhouse]

It is indeed hilarious. Especially because the city will lose, which is thankfully what needs to occur... But this will serve to remind developers what kind of incompetence they are dealing with when they deal with local government around here.

(We know ALL about this in our office at work, as we do a lot of work for First American, but didn't have anything to do with the screw up in question)

[TampaRealEstate]

This is a shot of a portion of Clearwater Beach awhile back.