Ohio group sees big opportunity on the beach
BY ED DUGGAN
A group of Ohio developers snapped up historic beachfront property near Gulf Stream that they call an oceanfront gem. What do they know that local developers don’t? “We are not afraid to tackle the unusual, out-of-the-box projects that others give up on before they start,” said Michael D. Theye, senior VP of developer JFP Group.
It took a lot of polishing, persuading and negotiating to unearth the gem and now there are plans to morph it into the Seahorse, a $90 million (based on sellout value) oceanfront complex.
The plan is to construct a low-density community – the first new oceanfront project of its kind built during the last two decades in the unincorporated Palm Beach County neighborhood near Gulf Stream. LaSalle Bank and Mercantile Bank will finance the construction loan.
Real estate analyst Jack McCabe, CEO of Deerfield Beach-based McCabe Research & Consulting calls the Seahorse an unusual niche offering. “It will appeal to those who want oceanfront, but not a high-rise,” he said. “It will be interesting to see how quickly they can secure the necessary presales for construction.”
There are already seven presales, with about 19 needed to trigger the construction financing. “The property was run down and needed major dollars to bring it up to scratch,” said Terry Jacobs, COO of the development group. “Over the last 10 years, a number of people were interested in the parcel, but the prospect of dealing with 24 individual owners proved too daunting to them.”
The 3-acre land parcel on both sides of A1A was formerly a co-op of 32 units, a swimming pool and a restaurant owned by early polo aficionados, most of them from Ohio. In its new incarnation, it will be home to the 42-unit Seahorse, a low-rise project of single-floor condominiums in one four-story and three three-story buildings.
Even with three related members of the former owners in his group, and a lot of help from the others, it still took Jacobs two years to make the deal a reality. “I’m not sure I’d ever want to tackle such a complicated task again – although we are very happy that we secured this pristine 300 feet of oceanfront.”
FPL project could position Florida to export solar power some day, expert says
By PAUL BRINKMANN
Oranges, sugar cane, tourism … and solar power? Florida’s strong sunshine could make it an exporter of electrical power in the near future, a leader in the industry said at a local conference.
“Florida could become a net energy exporter,” said John O’Donnell, executive VP of Palo Alto, California based Ausra. “The costs will be 20 percent higher here than in the desert Southwest, but still lower than the rest of the Southeast. Places like Georgia and the Carolinas may want Florida’s power.”
Ausra is the company hired by Florida Power & Light Co., a subsidiary of Juno Beach-based FPL Group, to build the world's largest solar power plant somewhere in Florida in the next decade. Ausra and FPL currently are working on a pilot project, a 10-megawatt solar thermal facility at an existing power plant. For the larger project, FP&L will need a 2-square-mile piece of land. O’Donnell said the location that makes the most sense is central Florida, possibly on former orange groves east of Tampa. The inland area is somewhat sheltered from the brunt of hurricane landfall and coastal showers.
O'Donnell was in Coconut Grove on February 26 for the 2008 Energy Frontiers International conference, where he gave a talk about solar energy potential in Florida.
In an interview, O'Donnell said Florida has too many cloudy days to compete with southwestern states like Arizona for solar dominance. But its subtropical latitude means solar is more productive than other U.S locations throughout the year. Nadav Enbar, senior researcher for Framingham, Mass.-based Energy Insights, said Ausra’s technology is still untested in Florida.
“It’s clear this is an incremental project, and a ‘go-slow’ approach right now,” Enbar said. “It the smaller project doesn’t work, FP&L can still nix the larger project.” Enbar said the claim of being the largest solar power plant in the world is good marketing, but can’t be verified until the time for construction draws nearer.
Nick Lenssen, another analyst for Energy Insights, said the market for solar power has definitely grown and is on the verge of a boom. “FPL made a killing on their wind investments, they are a leading private developer of wind in the U.S. now,” he said. But he said frequent showers during Florida’s rainy season are a well-recognized challenge to consistent solar power generation. A solar thermal power plant doesn’t convert light directly to electricity like solar panels on rooftops – solar thermal plants create steam pressure that turns turbines.
Lydian Mortgage drops wholesale for retail
BY ED DUGGAN
Lydian Mortgage and VirtualBank, subsidiaries of Palm Beach-based Lydian Trust Co., are getting out of the broker-generated wholesale mortgage business and will now concentrate on expanding retail mortgages through the VirtualBank division.
A freeze in the credit markets has put pressure on all mortgage originators, as more than 230 of them have gone out of business or severely curtailed operations since late 2006.
Separately, the Lydian group is facing a federal lawsuit in California that alleges violations of the Truth in Lending Act and the California Unfair Competition Law. Industry rumors had predicted the Lydian move after about 100 of its employees were laid off in August. The company said then that most of them were in the mortgage subsidiary.
On February 22, the final shoe dropped as 25 account executives who still dealt with brokers were terminated. Fifteen were independent contractors outside Florida; the other 10 were Lydian Mortgage employees in the Palm Beach Gardens office.
According to a Lydian Mortgage spokeswoman, the local employees were offered other positions within the Lydian group, and the severance cost should be less than $250,000. Any pending broker-generated loans must be interest rate-locked by March 1 and approved and funded by April 1, according to the company’s Web site.
The wholesale mortgage business relies on independent mortgage brokers generating fee-based business in large volume, while a retail operation typically relies on paid employees dealing directly with borrowers on a smaller scale.
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