Investor sues to bail out of four WCI condos

Investor sues to bail out of four WCI condos

A Virginia investor who bet on South Florida’s condo market in headier days is trying everything he can to get out of contracts on four Singer Island units and recover about $1.6 million in deposits.

John Cherin has filed three federal lawsuits against Bonita Springs-based WCI Communities, which developed the Resort at Singer Island and One Singer Island.

WCI wants to close on the sale of the units and has given no indication it will settle.

The legal challenges come at a bad time for one of Florida’s most active luxury home and condo builders. WCI’s shares

Entrepreneurs must pay $1.9 million

Entrepreneurs must pay $1.9 million


Jury says couple who lost their building and businesses must honor guarantees they made to pay business debts

Carolyn Waygood’s string of bad luck keeps extending.

First she lost the 40,000-square-foot retail center she built on the Manatee River to foreclosure. Then she and her husband were evicted from their respective health spa and restaurant businesses.

Now, to top it off, Waygood and her husband, Robert Hierak, have been hit with $1.9 million judgment, stemming from the personal guarantees they made to pay all debts incurred by their businesses and development projects.

Retail builders feel credit pinch [Central Florida]

Retail builders feel credit pinch [Central Florida]

The credit crunch triggered by subprime home mortgages gone bad has spilled into the retail shopping center industry.

The word of tighter lending restrictions spread Monday among 5,500 retailers and developers gathered at the International Council of Shopping Centers’ annual Florida Dealmaking Conference in Orlando.

The news came after the Federal Reserve injected $38-billion into the banking system Friday and an additional $2-billion Monday and the slumping stock market undermined the value and borrowing power of many public real estate investment trusts.

“The fundamentals of our industry remain strong, but we are headed for more turbulence until this all shakes out,” said Michael Kercheval, chief executive of ICSC, the trade group of the retail real estate industry. “This may go on for weeks, months or even years.”

Millionaire hopefuls’ cash gone with breeze [South Florida]

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.

Sarasota YMCA entangled in unorthodox land deal [South Florida]

Sarasota YMCA entangled in unorthodox land deal [South Florida]

A complex real estate deal between the Sarasota Family YMCA and one of its fundraising foundation board members made the charity at least $250,000.

But the deal also turned out good for the board member, Sarasota attorney David Band.

Together with four partners, Band sold half of a run-down office building on land tainted by groundwater pollution to the YMCA for $830,000 and donated the other half to the nonprofit as an $830,000 gift that could save Band and his partners at least $200,000 on their tax bills.

The same day, the YMCA made a quick profit by selling the entire building for $1.3 million, receiving $300,000 in cash, while providing the buyers with a $1 million interest-only loan.

Buying homes through short sales can lead to long waits

Buying homes through short sales can lead to long waits

Jamie Schmitt and Valerie Azinheira liked the two-bedroom house in San Francisco’s Merced Heights. It was near a nice park where their 3-year-old son, Gabriel, could play. They made a no-contingency offer for the full $629,000 listing price on June 20.

Then they waited. And waited. And, well, waited some more.

It took a full five weeks to find out whether their offer was accepted. (It was.)

The offer “just fell into the abyss,” said Schmitt, 38, a handyman/remodeler who also lends his expertise to several fix-it shows on the Home & Garden TV Network.