Friday, May 6, 2011

Update of the Boca Teeca/Ocean Breeze Proposed Golf Course Conversion-Development of >200 Townhouses

Dear Boca Raton Neighbors,

The approved development of over 200 townhouses on the South portion of the Ocean Breeze golf course has received an extension of the original conditional use deadline of 4/12/11. According to city records Mr. Jeff Evans requested this extension in Sept. 2010 under a new State law that provided for automatic extension of 2 years for such a development so this development is pending until at least 4/12/13 as confirmed by correspondence from the city to & from Mr. Evans.

Why didn't the owner of the property, MCZ Centrum, request this extension?

Is Mr. Evans acting legally upon the request of the property owner, or is there some other legal right that he has to request this extension?

Tthe property remains in foreclosure and is operating as the only 27-hole championship level golf course within the city limits of Boca Raton that is open to the public. The foreclosure precess started in March 2010 and the current receiver was appointed in Jan. 2010 after large tax liens were placed on the property. It is estimated that the tax liens now exceed $650,000 based upon non-payment of property taxes to PBC, sales taxes to PBC & sales taxes to the State of FL. If the 2010 property taxes are not paid then the tax liens would be approaching $1 million.

Additionally, the Florida Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) has action pending versus the property owner for cleaning up the hazardous levels of arsenic and other toxic chemicals found on the property by the EPA & DEP in Jan. 2010. It is our understanding that the property owner has until July to respond to the DEP with their own environmental assessment and their proposed plan to cleanup the property.

Neighboring property owners are interested parties since the DEP report indicated that the source of the contamination found on at least one adjacent property was due to the activity on the golf course property. What are the costs of this cleanup on residential property and how much is the legal liability to the resdiential property owner(s)?

4 comments:

  1. Why doesn't the bank simply allow a short-sale of the property to the Arnold Parlmer group that is managing the golf course?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Fred,

    Good question, but the bank has the personal guarantee from the 4 principal owners of MCZ Centrum. So, the bank needs to complete the foreclosure process in order to subsequently have a legal claim versus these personal guarantors for the deficiency balance on the $7 million loan.

    Once the foreclosure legal process is completed and the bank owns the property, then they can consider selling the property to the Arnold Palmer Management company. Florida foreclosures are taking approx. 2-3 years to complete, so this process may have another 6-18 months.

    The bank could also comtinue to own the property and continue to contract-out the management to Arnold Palmer group while they clean-up the pending environmental contamination with the FL Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP). Most real estate investors will not buy a property that has a pending environmental action that may also contain significant legal liability for cleanup.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Fred,

    Good question, but the bank has the personal guarantee from the 4 principal owners of MCZ Centrum. So, the bank needs to complete the foreclosure process in order to subsequently have a legal claim versus these personal guarantors for the deficiency balance on the $7 million loan.

    Once the foreclosure legal process is completed and the bank owns the property, then they can consider selling the property to the Arnold Palmer Management company. Florida foreclosures are taking approx. 2-3 years to complete, so this process may have another 6-18 months.

    The bank could also comtinue to own the property and continue to contract-out the management to Arnold Palmer group while they clean-up the pending environmental contamination with the FL Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP). Most real estate investors will not buy a property that has a pending environmental action that may also contain significant legal liability for cleanup.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Fred,

    Good question, but the bank has the personal guarantee from the 4 principal owners of MCZ Centrum. So, the bank needs to complete the foreclosure process in order to subsequently have a legal claim versus these personal guarantors for the deficiency balance on the $7 million loan.

    Once the foreclosure legal process is completed and the bank owns the property, then they can consider selling the property to the Arnold Palmer Management company. Florida foreclosures are taking approx. 2-3 years to complete, so this process may have another 6-18 months.

    The bank could also comtinue to own the property and continue to contract-out the management to Arnold Palmer group while they clean-up the pending environmental contamination with the FL Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP). Most real estate investors will not buy a property that has a pending environmental action that may also contain significant legal liability for cleanup.

    ReplyDelete