Millionaire hopefuls’ cash gone with breeze [South Florida]
In January, Ocean Land Investments of Boca Raton agreed to pay Briny trailer owners $510 million for their oceanfront property, a defiantly unpretentious middle-class oasis wedged amid mansions, high-priced condominiums and opulent hotels.
Ocean Land planned a development featuring 900 condos, a 349-room hotel, a marina and 300 time shares, including several 15-story buildings. Owners of each of the 488 trailers, many of whom paid less than $50,000 for their units and the lots they occupy, stood to make an average of slightly more than $1 million. Briny’s 1,100 inhabitants were instant celebrities. Trailer park millionaires.
But two weeks ago, Ocean Land, facing an Aug. 10 deadline to pay the rest of a $5 million non-refundable deposit (it had put down $500,000) asked for a 45-day extension to talk to nearby towns opposed to the project.