New Year's resolution? Yes! Expand our project list from one
to three projects. Simple, but not so fast. As you know, the business is
very convoluted and development financing is still tight, and there are few new
starts. So, we are digging deeper with those contacts we have vetted and doing
our best to make a small universe work for us. We have a talented core team,
including Scott Tracy and Chris Cannon plus myself, so we have
some built-in bandwidth assuming we do JVs that have talented members.
At Seahorse Beach Club outside of Houston, Texas, we are
now committed to wood pilings versus the composite fiberglass ones. Remember
those pilings up 17 feet? We’ll use what we have of the fiberglass pilings for
our dune walk-overs and for our crabbing and fishing pier. The goal is to get
the framing up and well on the way by March—when the spring breaks occur for
Houston schools—and then occupancy in June.
Our law firm, Ballard Spahr, has prepared the
non-resident membership deposit forms for our amenity club. That campaign will
kick in during February and hopefully get us on the way for funding of the core
amenities.
The Florida Keys Resort and Club goes for
conditional approval from the City of Marathon, Florida, next week for the
hotel, with final approvals in April. We expect few, if any, problems.
Following approvals, real estate firm Newmark Grubb Knight Frank can
begin to raise the needed equity and debt. How we go about getting the first
batch of fractional cottages ready for the winter 2014–15 season is still being
worked out. We had an all-partner meeting in Coral Springs last week. It’s a
very talented and experienced group, and we are pleased to be a small part of
them.
The Crystal Resort, also in Marathon, may go back to a
condominium and fractional resort versus a hotel and cottages property. More to
sell for Star, or maybe it will go all timeshare. This is the neat part of
resort development—multiple options to keep one light on their feet.
Even been to St. Croix? There’s a very nice set of parcels
owned by a Pennsylvania family with long ties to the U.S. Virgin Islands, who
now want to develop it: Butler Bay by name. We are investigating if
development financing is available for the cottage whole and fractional sales
program.
Lastly, New Orleans is perking again; both for the Royal/Chartres and Square
97 properties. Good and solid buyers are looking at both of them, so we
should know more by early February. That’s grand news!
