Vegas Builder Hits the Jackpot

It has been nearly three years since builder Josh Anderson purchased 36 distressed lots just outside of Las Vegas for an average of about $90,000 each, hoping that a bet on troubled land would pay off once the market turned.

If all goes well this week, his gamble could result in a jackpot.

One of the lots Mr. Anderson bought was used to build the “New American Home,” the name given to a model home that captures the latest design trends and is unveiled annually at the International Builders’ Show. This year’s show, a mega convention expected to attract 80,000 members of the home-building and home-renovation industry, opened in Las Vegas on Tuesday.

<

p>via Vegas Builder Hits the Jackpot.

Possible Vinik hotel could have 400 hotel rooms, 50 condo units

A new downtown hotel contemplated by Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik could marry 400 hotel rooms with 50 high-rise condo units, a city of Tampa document shows.

Such hotel/condo hybrids were popular around the country until last decade’s real estate bust, particularly among luxury hotel developers, said Chuck Ross, a hotel consultant not affiliated with Vinik’s project. Just recently, the concept seems to be making a comeback, he said.

Vinik has been buying up land surrounding the Forum in Tampa’s Channel District for two years. He and his partners now own 21 acres stretching from Florida Avenue in the west to Meridian Avenue in the east. He’s been tight-lipped about his plans, but it’s presumed he’ll build some kind of entertainment-related project.

via Possible Vinik hotel could have 400 hotel rooms, 50 condo units.

First-time buyers and downsizers fueling improved home sales

Last year saw more homes selling faster and for more money than they have in several years.

The numbers in the Northeast Florida Association of Realtors’ annual report were an improvement across the board. About 4,000 more homes were sold in 2013 than in 2012. The median price of $153,400 was up about $20,000, and homes sold an average of 23 days faster than a year earlier.

While new listings rose, the number of homes for sale continues to drop because they’re selling.

via First-time buyers and downsizers fueling improved home sales.

A deal may allow a Fisher Island luxury condo development to begin construction after long delays

The development of luxury condos on Fisher Island — stalled for years during an international battle among mysterious offshore companies and would-be heirs — may soon go forward, even as a spirited clash continues over ownership of the 18 acres.The fight has stretched through courts in the United Kingdom, Liechtenstein, the Republic of Georgia, Gibraltar and the United States.

It is complicated by a mind-boggling maze of corporate structures and trusts and spiced with speculation of political assassination and treachery fit for a Russian spy novel.After six years, the warring parties have come together to ask U.S. Bankruptcy Judge A. Jay Cristol to bless a deal that will allow Fisher Island Investments to break ground on the upscale condo project — capitalizing on Miami’s red-hot boom in ultra luxury construction — even as key issues remain in dispute, including who is the rightful owner of Fisher Island Investments.

via A deal may allow a Fisher Island luxury condo development to begin construction after long delays.

Infamous foreclosed Keys condo site now future home of a Marriott boutique hotel

Earthmovers and other construction equipment are clearing the way for a “boutique hotel” at the old American Outdoors RV Park bayfront lot at mile marker 97.5 in Key Largo.Developers are seeking “a multitude of approvals” from Monroe County, said Larry Abbo, chief executive officer of Prime Hospitality Group. Prime Hospitality wants to build a 15-building hotel on the 14-acre site. The project also calls for 160 parking spaces, Abbo said.

For the past eight years, the property, with its faded sales sign for a project called Playa Cristal, stood as a monument to a fledgling real estate trend that never got off the ground in the Keys in the mid-2000s, despite a serious and expensive build-up.

via Infamous foreclosed Keys condo site now future home of a Marriott boutique hotel – Florida Keys – MiamiHerald.com.

Land Crunch Hits Builders in ‘Brady Bunch’ Country

Ure Kretowicz, a home developer here, built his company and fortune constructing suburban communities marked by detached, Mediterranean-style houses along winding cul de sacs. Now he has run out of space.

For the first time in his four-decade career, Mr. Kretowicz doesn’t have one detached, single-family home under development in metro San Diego. From the blueprints in his office to dusty construction sites across the county, his company’s future in the region revolves around attached homes.

“In the next 10 years the typical single-family subdivision will be a dinosaur,” he said.

via Land Crunch Hits Builders in ‘Brady Bunch’ Country.