European Village Saga Continues
Restaurants and shops doing well but residential condo owners are struggling. Integrated Resorts is apparently out as condo/hotel operator with no replacement in sight.
Palm Coast, FL – June 7, 2008 – Another chapter in Palm Coast’s European Resort saga begins as Integrated Resorts, the company hired by developer Peter Roehr to manage the resort condo/hotel, winds down their involvement with residential unit owners by releasing them from their rental contracts. This leaves residential unit owners on their own. Last night, I found a lighted but uninhabited hotel lobby. Meanwhile, business goes on in the restaurants and shops that occupy European Village’s first floor condos. At 8 o’clock, business was bustling. I had to search for a spot in the crowded parking lot.
European Village was conceived as a world class condo hotel/resort by Peter Roehr and partner John Koszalkowski. The three sided structure faces an interior courtyard. The first floor, fronted by a hotel lobby, is comprised of commercial condominiums for restaurants and shops. The remaining floors are one and two bedroom residential condominiums designed to be rented as hotel rooms from the lobby. The condominiums are individually owned. The lobby and central piazza are owned by Roehr.
Roehr also purchased the adjoining property formerly known as the Players Club. With its several clay and grass tennis courts, clubhouse, pool and cabana, it was going to provide hotel guests with resort style amenities. But along the way, things went wrong.
- Construction was delayed by material and labor shortages and money ran short.
- Roehr and Koszalkowski had a falling out which ended in a legal battle in which Koszalkowski was awarded judgments.
- The condominium market became overcrowded as Centex began competing with their Tidelands condos and the market went soft.
- Lenders foreclosed on the Players Club in 2007.
- A Jacksonville based company contracted to buy the hotel operation, running the lobby and rentals under an interim agreement with Roehr. The deal fell through.
- In stepped locally owned Integrated Resorts, the self-proclaimed savior, to operate the condo/hotel under a management agreement with Roehr. Integrated cleaned up the Players Club facilities. They reportedly leased the clubhouse to a fitness center operator and collected rent, even though the foreclosed lender was then in possession of the property. When the south Florida-based lender found that the property was occupied, the fitness center operator was evicted and any remaining rights of European Village condo association to use the facilities were terminated.
- The Players Club is now being offered for sale by its present owner.
- In late April, Garrett Spitzer, a principle in Integrated Resorts, told me that they had a buyer lined up to purchase Integrated Resorts, the Players Club, and Peter Roehr’s remaining European Village holdings. The deal would clear up Koszalkowski’s judgment and Roehr’s pending foreclosures and liens. The buyer also planned to purchase between 30 and 50 residential condo units from individual owners. Spitzer asked me to keep the information confidential until the deal was finalized. He also promised to call me first with the news. Now, he’s not returning my calls.
The deal didn’t happen. Integrated Resorts is apparently out. There is presently no one to fill the void as hotel operator. Roehr, who faces foreclosure on his remaining condo units as well as on a home at 13 Old Oaks Drive, has neither the means nor the will to remain involved. He says he hopes to sell the operation to a hotel operator. But that won’t be easy in a market that now shuns condo/hotels.
European Village restaurants and shops continue to attract sizeable crowds. Palm Coast residents are starved for this type of venue. So European Village will survive. It’s too early to say how the residential condo/hotel situation will shake out. It won’t be until someone comes along to take out Roehr’s position and clear the liens, judgments, and foreclosures. It’s tragic that so many people are hurt along the way.
If you haven’t experienced European Village’s great food and shopping, I recommend you do.
thanks
Toby- Thanks for the update. We are appreciative of your kind words regarding the shops and restuarants. Come on in I’d like to buy you a beer.
Thanks,
Chris Sabo- owner
Barbara Jean’s Restaurant in the European Village
management
I heard a few weeks ago that Syndicated Capital real estate was taking over as the management company. But who knows?
NOT HONEST PEOPLE
YOU CAN USE MY PARKING SPACE 8 THANK YOU MUCH FOR THE INFO PETER ROHER IS ACROOK HE HURT A LOT OF PEOPLE RENTED MY UNIT AND NEVER PAY ME THE RENT AND SOLD 33 UNITS WITH A GUARANTEE RENTAL FOR 3 YEARS THRU SUNMARK REALTY AND COMITTED FRAUD BUT HEIS NOT IN JAIL ONLY IN PALM COAST YOU GET AWAY WITH THAT CRIME
DISHONEST PEOPLE
THE SAGA WILL CONTINUED UNTIL PETER IS GONE HE HURT TOO MANY PEOPLE HE RENTS THE UNITS AND DONT PAY THE OWNERS I LOCK MY UNIT again thank you
another proud fraud
Peter Roehr is a fraud. Another developer that overpromised, didn’t deliver and left the unfortunate souls who own the condo units that don’t rent high and dry. The laws that protect the consumers are in place, (ILSA, FDUPTA, along with various breaches of contracts) but the will of the local government, the local licensing authorities, the Flager County Board of Commissioners, the Realtors, the Lawyers is weak. Everyone is in bed with someone else and the wheels that grind slowly do so because it’s only the little guy that gets hurt.
Sing Along,
\”The Realtor bone is connected to the Developer bone, the Developer bone is connected to the Bank bone, the Bank bone is connected to the Buyer bone, the Buyer bone is connected to the Lawyer bone, the Lawyer bone is connected to the Fraud bone, the Fraud bone is connected back to the Developer Bone.\”
Everyone connected to this should be sued. Florida is a joke when its comes to protecting the consumers who purchase real estate where fraud is involved. The Banks will get their bail out/write off. The Lawyers hide behind the their billing hours and their legal ese. The Realtors hide behind a rock if something goes wrong and point fingers at everyone but themselves, the Developers make enough money to get away and not deal with the headaches and finally the Buyers (the only reason the aforementioned Banks, Lawyers, Developers and Realtors are in business) get the biggest Bone of all.
A proud non buyer, but almost, of a unit at European Village.
Realtor Comment
For Sam,
Sounds like your dont care much for Florida. May I remind you I95 runs North back to New York and you should return to where everything is perfect.
5 Star Rip-Off!
My husband & I reserved a room for a Saturday night, all was fine until the walls stated to vibrate due to a techno dance club/restaraunt. We made a call to the front desk clerk and were informed that the music wouldn\\\\\\’t stop until about 2am…they never even offered to move us to a differnt room! At 1:15am we decided we had enough and checked out, but the desk clerk told us that he cound\\\\\\’t refund our CC and that we\\\\\\’d have to wait to speak with accounting in the morning. We called acct\\\\\\’ing and were told that it would be taken care of 1st thing Mon. AM, so I called back on Mon. and was told by another clerk that it was not taken care of and that ususally they never give refunds and that the clerk that night probably couldn\\\\\\’t have moved us anyway because they don\\\\\\’t have access to all the room, and that I\\\\\\’d have to wait to speak with acct\\\\\\’ing for another 3 days…of course there was never anyone there of any authority to speak with each time I called. Then after my 3 day wait…they flat out refused to give me a refund and told us to contest the charges on the CC. They did however (per our request) supply us with a letter that states that \\\\\\\”It is not our policy to refund monies paid for any room due to circumstances beyond our control and offered us a comped night! We wouldn\\\\\\’t take them up on it anyway. Who would want to!! The owners are scam artists and they need to called out. I only hope that the future owners will do right by this resort…it has great potential!
DISHONEST PEOPLE
DEAR REALTOR STATE YOUR NAME UNLESS YOU ARE ONE OF THEM
Re Realtor comment
I95 was how most of the money that was spent in Florida the last 6 years arrived. It doesn\\’t suprise me that you would want someone who points out the truth to leave. As long as Florida allows those who attempt to be part of it\\’s economy to be hurt by the fraud that grows like mold down there, it will continue to be a backwater whose only use is as a backstop for the rest of the country. Others would say the funnel where where all the nastiness drains to but you get my point. Realtors are either vital to the process by which we buy and sell properties for their knowledge and expertise, or they they are not. You can\\’t have it both ways. Either Realtors are part of the reason so many people get hurt because they dispense so much \\’wisdom\\’ or they are simply cashing checks with no real idea what they are doing.
Peter needs to go to jail
Dear Peter,
You are scum and need to go to jail. Be hung by ears and left there to rot. While you are there, you can think about how many people you have ripped off and stolen from. How you can look in the mirror and go to sleep at night baffles me. Shame on you!! Do you believe in Karma? YOu are a very hated man around town.
European Village Hotel not up to par
In March \\’08 we stayed at the hotel for two nights, very dirty, with bugs and not secure at all. Told the front desk about and they shrugged their shoulders. Their are more options, won\\’t go back. Don\\’t patronize this hotel!
Thanks for supporting our shops
Village Gifts appreciates letting everyone know how much we appreicate the local patronage. We enjoy the Village, and look forward to continued successful years in the commerical arena. Oh, Chris, can I have a beer too?
Re Realtor’s comment/Sam
There are realtors and there are realtors. We make commissions by taking care of customer’s needs thru careful analysis of the best we can offer them within their parameters. Of late I have discussed with a client about the merits of buying and not buying at the European Village and other locations. Suffice it to say that they went ahead and bought in one of the abovementioned location, directly, as they told us, from the sales office. No problem, it’s their money, their decision. They went directly, dazzled by the low price, etc.
Please do not lump all realtors as just selling for the buck. Some of us do our due diligence and are proud to be like other professionals, we earn our commissions the hard way, in this scenario, we did our due diligence and was not heeded, so be it, but it hurts when we’re maligned as a group.