News About Properties

No housing slump in Hamptons

Ron Baron, founder of the investment company bearing his name, didn’t hesitate to pay $103 million for a 40-acre parcel in East Hampton, N.Y. It is the record for a residential property in the U.S. and just a little less than double the annual compensation of some of his neighbors.

House prices in the beach retreat that Steven Spielberg shares with billionaire investor Thomas H. Lee rose 14 percent during the first quarter, even as the national median fell. The Hamptons, former potato farms where seagull cries now mix with the sounds of well-tuned Ferraris, is boosted by salaries on Wall Street, 40 minutes away by helicopter, said Diane Saatchi, a broker at Corcoran Group in East Hampton.

“People have made an incredible amount of money on Wall Street over the last few years,” said Saatchi, who started selling real estate in the Hamptons 19 years ago. “For them, spending millions on a summer home to be near their friends isn’t a big deal.”

Wealthy New Yorkers trade their Manhattan apartments for summertime houses in the dozen hamlets of East Hampton and Southampton to maintain their social standing, said George Simpson, president of Suffolk Research Service Inc., a real estate records company based in Southampton.

Tampa tower loses Trump

Trump Tower Tampa has lost its biggest asset: the Trump name itself.

New York tycoon Donald Trump has terminated his contract with SimDag, the Tampa development team behind the proposed $300-million condo tower long touted as west Florida’s tallest and most luxurious.

Trump’s defection could be fatal to a project launched with fanfare in February 2005 but pelted with construction liens and lawsuits as the housing market soured.

Trump-branded towers are under construction or already built in cities ranging from Chicago and New York to Miami and Las Vegas, but in the end Tampa apparently didn’t have the right stuff.

Tax Bill-a Collina [Central Florida]

When developer Bobby Ginn first shared plans for a new ultra-upscale community on the southwest shore of Lake Apopka, buyers flocked from around the world to pay a small fortune for a slice of his ambitious vision.

Bella Collina has quickly become one of Central Florida’s priciest developments, with neatly divided parcels fetching up to $2 million. But along with lofty dreams comes a bitter reality. Many investors who sought to profit from the skyrocketing land values are now facing hefty property-tax bills.

Taxes on nearly a quarter of the more than 800 properties in Bella Collina have gone unpaid this year. That amounts to almost $2.5 million — about 15 percent of all the unpaid property taxes in Lake County. The lots will be part of an Internet tax-certificate sale Friday to ensure the county gets all the money it is owed.

“This is an example of the fact that people were just paying too much — now they’re stuck,” Lake County Property Appraiser Ed Havill said.

Students attract investors

Ram Realty Services can thank those babies of baby boomers for $4.5 million.

The Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., company sold the Ivy Chase student apartment complex at 3351 Cum Laude Court in West Raleigh to a group led by Julian LeCraw & Co. of Atlanta for $23.3 million — 24 percent more than what Ram paid in 2001 for the 262-unit, 546-bedroom complex just southwest of N.C State University.

Student housing has attracted investors who feel protected by ever-growing student bodies, fueled by the children of baby boomers.

Nationally, the median price per student housing unit was $117,482 in the year ending March 31, up 26 percent from the previous year, while the price of all other kinds of apartment units dropped 7 percent to $89,641 per unit, Real Capital Analytics data shows.

Waldemere Plaza deal back on track [South Florida]

Sarasota Memorial Hospital expected in early 2006 to have the sale of its Waldemere Medical Plaza wrapped up before the calendar turned over.

Five months into this year, hospital officials are now hoping to complete a pending $25 million deal to sell the eight-story building to a team of doctor tenants and a Boston-based developer by the time 2007 ends.

But while the sale of the 1921 Waldemere St. medical building has taken longer than anticipated, hospital officials believe the outcome will justify the length of time the process has taken.

“I’m happy that the process is moving along,” said Michael Harrington, the hospital’s chief operating officer. “Remember, we’re not just trying to sell a building here. We’re trying to align with a long-term, master facility plan and meet the needs of our physician tenants at the same time.”

Commercial real estate still roars [Central Florida]

Rob Guthrie has been expecting demand to fall for the small industrial buildings he builds.

After all, a slowdown in industrial property usually follows a slowdown in the housing market, and right now, housing is in one doozy of a slowdown.

Instead, this year, Guthrie has sold out one Orange County project and is on the verge of selling out two others. The combined projects include 65 buildings worth $80 million.

“We were prepping for a slowdown,” said Guthrie, CEO of Guthrie Development Co., based in Costa Mesa. “Instead, we’re on pace to have our best year ever.”