Catching Up with Carl: November 2014

We are coming upon the Holiday Season. Usually, most work slows down between Thanksgiving and New Year's. Not in our case. If we can get the attention of important participants, here’s what we plan to do:

1. Florida: We are working on two deals. For the Florida Keys Club, we plan to arrange our final financing and move ahead with plans for the fractional cottages and the hotel. At Crystal Cove, we plan to arrange a relationship with RCI for rental, by them and by European travel companies allied with them, to lease a number of condos as the rental market to the Keys is so hot. Then, to begin construction on our first phase, and get into sales.

2. Texas: At our Seahorse Beach Club, during the first week of December we’ll be value engineering our first two homes: one on the Gulf and the other on the Bay with an eye to build and furnish homes that are more competitive with our specific market.

Or, to put it another way, we probably overbuilt and we are adjusting, which should make our selling prices more attractive.

3. New Orleans: We’ve spent a good deal of time fashioning the elements of a venture ‘deal’ there and are finally getting down to what the license can and can’t do in terms of transient use in the Quarter. By year’s end, we’ll either be in one or two projects or none.

4. A lot of projects have come to us for various reasons:

       A] At a Colorado ski area, we are working with the balance of a partially sold-out fractional project. We have submitted a proposal to ‘bulk’ sell the inventory. That proposal has not yet been accepted by the owner.

       B] At a Sierra ski community, recently purchased by a Canadian developer and hotel management company, we are in discussions to find them a development partner to build out the Village core. It's interesting as we managed the pre-sales, back in the mid-2000s, for a condo/fractional project.

      C] A Texas historic hotel with an eye to convert part of the inventory to condos, plus to build condo penthouses all for fractional sales. Our proposal is on their desk.

So, a busy end of the year for us. Our office building in Scottsdale Old Town is still for sale. Any takers?

Catching Up with Carl: October 2014

Just returned from hiking 100 miles on two English trails. Wonderful weather and gorgeous scenery. Also, terrific pubs, food and beer!

At Texas's Seahorse Beach Club,  our grand opening is set for Saturday and Sunday, October 11 and 12. After that weekend, our first Beach Home will be sold out of fractions and we’ll have taken reservations in our first Bay Home, now under construction. We have the local chambers sponsoring the opening and the top real estate agencies bringing their sales teams by before or after the opening based on their sales meeting day.

We are “just” a year behind our original schedule due to a confluence of factors: financing, high-end construction, weather, lack of experience with local contracting for our type of home and the fact that we are building up 19 feet on piers! 

Well, doesn’t everyone build up 19 feet? Sure, but the usual beach house in our area is not the quality of our homes. We have had to blaze new trails at almost every turn of the construction cycle.

So far, the fractional product has been well received. Certainly, a lot of education is needed, but our ace sales manager, Richard Korowicki, has managed that aspect very, very well.

I am very proud of our Star team: Scott Tracy, as project manager, for handling the many, many construction items plus the installation of the FF&E and OS&E; Chris Cannon, our chief marketing officer, has pumped out all sorts of invites, newsletters, website upgrades and—in coordination with our top flight PR agent in Houston, Bernard Kaplan—well-placed articles and releases.

In the Florida Keys, the twists and turns continue in the full financing of the Florida Keys Resort on Marathon Key. We have been successful in extending our closing on the golf club until January 15, 2015. On one hand, the property, bought right and singular by size and uniqueness, should be readily financeable. But we are looking for the ‘just right’ terms and partner. So, that has taken time and some extra expense. The second Marathon Key property, Crystal Bay Resort, is back on track as a mixed-use of either fractions and whole units or a hotel [Marriott franchise] and fractional cottages.

New Orleans is another story. Our team has not been able to bring the right buyer to the table for either of the two projects, and now they are under contract to others. Grand opportunities, but no go. Alas.