Construction resumes at Isles of the World - WGV

[Jason]

Construction resumes at Isles of the World

By KATIE SANDERS  |   More by this reporter  |  t.katie.sanders@staugustine.com  |   Posted: Saturday, July 11, 2009 ; Updated: 1:33 AM on Saturday, July 11, 2009







Real estate broker associate Bob Keating has grown pretty familiar with the local nicknames given to the shambled houses he's tried selling for two years.

Several would-be townhouses in Isles of the World, a World Golf Village development on Royal Pines Parkway, have sat unfinished since 2007 after being abandoned by the original developer at the ignition of the housing market downfall.

The lineup of homes with untiled roofs, crumbling and weathered Tyvek paper and unpainted exteriors has been an eyesore for the pristine and pricey Village community, earning nicknames such as "Isles of the Third World" and resembling "burnt-out Beirut."

Keating, of International Golf Realty, hopes the development's reputation as a stalled project is on the way out, thanks to a new developer who has picked up construction on a few units.

The Isles has served as a constant reminder to nearby residents of the economy's toll.

Now that houses are being finished, Keating expects sales to be more realistic.

"We really needed someone to start building to be able to tell a buyer, you know, the project is ongoing, and here are the dates for future completions, which is what we are doing now," he said.

The first phase of the project took off in January 2005, when the housing market thrived.

Contracts for 42 of 52 homes available in the first phase of Isles of the World were sold in a major auction at World Golf Village, he said.

The original developers, Whitehall Quality Homes, cleared land and prepared the infrastructure in the World Golf Village residence area for 150 townhouses. The project sat for about a year, and buildings started to go up in summer 2006.

By January 2007, the once-sizzling housing market started to fizzle. Thirty-eight of 42 contract holders, many of whom were in the "real estate game" of buying homes and flipping them, annulled their contracts because the homes were not ready by January 2007, which marked the end of their two-year contracts.

Shortly after, Whitehall Quality Homes ran out of money and was foreclosed upon. Construction was abandoned. The buildings, all left in different stages, went untouched from November 2007 to April 2009.

Keating came in the picture in May 2007, charged with reselling the 38 units that had come back on the market after the original two-year contracts were void.

Attracting buyers to move next door to unfinished homes -- made worse by months of wind and rain -- proved difficult, he said.

"The buildings really deteriorated as they sat," Keating said. "It's quite a loss when you have to leave a building in that stage."

From May 2007 to February 2008, Keating said, he sold only seven homes.

With the commitment of Waterbrook Holdings LLC, Keating hopes to get that to one a month.

The developers purchased three of the Isle's dilapidated buildings from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.The FDIC came into ownership of the homes after the Sarasota bank that foreclosed on Whitehall went under itself, he said.

In some ways, Isles of the World and several surrounding communities in World Golf Village sum up the economic turmoil of late.

"It's a perfect microcosm of what happened all over the county, really," he said.

By finishing buildings that are sometimes half-completed or further along, Keating said, the townhouses can be sold in the upper $200,000s.

The same townhouse a few years ago sold for around $400,000, he said.

The developer plans to increase the prices as more buildings are finished.

The plan is to deliver six to 10 homes at a time, he said.

The first unit, which consists of four homes, should be ready by August, he said. Two of those townhouses have been sold.

Keating hopes to have another unit of four homes ready by October.

In the "old days" -- just a few years ago -- Keating sold a home just about every week.

Now he figures if he sells a unit per month in this market, he'll be all right.

"We're excited because we have something to sell," he said.

Frank Dailey, a Wall Street retiree from Cape Cod, has lived across the street from the Isles in the Residences for two years. He has friends who spend their winters in the Isles.

He can't leave his home without looking at the Isles, a sight that used to depress him, he said.

Since construction has picked up, Dailey said he gets a "warm, fuzzy feeling" during his morning power-walks around the neighborhood.

"It's just nice to see signs of life again," he said.

Source: http://www.staugustine.com/stories/071109/news_1734182.shtml

[Jason]

Fits well with this article http://www.metrojacksonville.com/forum/index.php/topic,5414.0.html

[copperfiend]

If this isn't indicative of our current economic state than I don't know what is:

The developers purchased three of the Isle's dilapidated buildings from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.The FDIC came into ownership of the homes after the Sarasota bank that foreclosed on Whitehall went under itself, he said.

[reednavy]

If only construction would resume on The Cove at St. Johna near Baymeadows and San Jose. That hasn't changes since I moved here in June of 2006!

[copperfiend]

Reed, it is a sad sight.

[reednavy]

Reed, it is a sad sight.

It truly is, it could have been a very descent development.

[copperfiend]

My neighborhood was built out in early 2007. We have our share of empty properties at the moment but everything is built and lawns are cared for by the HOA. I have friends in developments where 80% of the lots aren't even sold.

[Lucasjj]

Fits well with this article http://www.metrojacksonville.com/forum/index.php/topic,5414.0.html

This article was removed from the NY Times website due to the fact that it wasn't as presented. However, what has gone on at the WGV shows there is truth to the story, even if what was presented by the freelance photographer for the NY Times was not.

[Jason]

I can get pictures of a development off of SR207 in St Augustine that is very similar to the article above and the Times article. 

Picture a medium sized community with a nice central entryway, newly finished roadways, utilities, 3 model homes, street lights etc.  Then picture waist high grass, 3 other unfinished homes that are randomly vandalized, trees fallen across the roadways, and many more overgrown vacant lots.

[Deuce]

Great little article, it really is a microcosm of what's played out in the economy. I was about to paste the same quote copper used. I laughed when I read that. It gave me my own warm fuzzy feeling to see some economic signs of life too. I think that upper 200,000's is a fair price for townhomes in the middle of nowhere (I don't care how you spin it, these are near nothing to me). The 400000's was way overpriced.