Lee County, FL – 4,157 Acres Owned by Ginn-LA Naples Ltd. LLLP Headed to Public Auction
The foreclosed land is located adjacent to Florida Gulf Coast University and near the Southwest Florida Regional Airport.
Palm Coast, FL – July 25, 2010 – A Lee County judge has issued a final foreclosure judgment on 4,157 acres of land owned by Bobby Ginn and Lubert-Adler affiliate Ginn-LA Ltd. LLLP. The mortgage is held by Alico-Argi Ltd. from whom Ginn purchased the property. In addition to the mortgage with a $52.2 million balance, Alico also holds $1.7 million of tax certificates on the property. An on-line foreclosure auction is scheduled for August 18 at 9:00 a.m.
A NaplesNews.com story reports, "The property has two approved development orders, one for a 336-unit residential community and the other for a 27-hole golf course."
Alico’s President and CEO JD Alexander stated, "This will likely bring final resolution to this matter. The parcel is strategically positioned in an area which has historically seen high growth due to its proximity to the Southwest Florida Regional Airport and Florida Gulf Coast University. We continue to evaluate our options regarding the future use of this property."
The foreclosure climaxes a series of contracts and renegotiations that began in 2001. See "Related Stories" for more details and historical perspective.
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GINN NAPLES AUCTION
Another excellent reason to thank the concerned citizens of Flagler Beach for successfully opposing attempts by Bobby Ginn to annex the proposed development between John Anderson and the Intracoastal. The City Commission was wholeheartedly in favor of it even to the point of allowing Ginn’s attorneys to draw up the contract. Will they ever learn?
John
It’s the economy
Bobby Ginn was a visionary and his vision for Hammock Beach was "grand" and would have put Flagler County on the "MAP". It was the economy and nothing else that derailed him and the granduer of what Hammock Beach could have become. I am a resident of Flagler County and was an investor with Ginn who made money early on and lost a lot when the economy turned down. I went in with my eyes wide open and knew the risks and have to suffer the consequences of my decisions. If Flagler ever wants to become a vibrant county again, it will need to embrace development again, as it did in the early part of the 2000’s. The economy will eventually rebound, but, if Flagler County is "gunshy" it will remain as the county with the worst unemployment rate in the state and eventually will become a "dying community"!!!
"It’s the economy………."
Bobby Ginn was a visionary and his vision for Hammock Beach was "grand" and would have put Flagler County on the "MAP". It was the economy and nothing else that derailed him and the granduer of what Hammock Beach could have become. I am a resident of Flagler County and was an investor with Ginn who made money early on and lost a lot when the economy turned down. I went in with my eyes wide open and knew the risks and have to suffer the consequences of my decisions. If Flagler ever wants to become a vibrant county again, it will need to embrace development again, as it did in the early part of the 2000’s. The economy will eventually rebound, but, if Flagler County is "gunshy" it will remain as the county with the worst unemployment rate in the state and eventually will become a "dying community"!!!
Do the Math
This project was doomed from the onset. Do the math. A $52,000,000 loan on a property with 336 lots (not to mention the golf course) means that just the raw land cost was more than $155,000 / lot. That is before any infrastructure, overhead costs, profit, etc.
Those numbers don’t make sense in any economy.
Reply to Dave
Hunh??? If you do not live in a "visionary" development of Bobby’s then you know not of what you speak.
He is a crook – plain and simple. How come all these "business" deals of his go into bankruptcy? Seems rather clear to me. People such as Bobby and LA are one of the reasons the economy went down the tubes – a domino effect.
I saw what he did to one development and it will take years for it to recover due to overpricing lots/spec houses, building a $2M bridge, $3K magnolia trees as far as the eye can see and NO clubhouse to this day, so your argument does not hold water.
Response to John and Ed
There are many communities, in this country and others, that have made it BIG!!! The Cliffs, Reynolds Plantation, Punta Cana are just a few of the communities that accomplished what Ginn and LA were tryiung to do!!! It can be done and the prices for land and memberships were not much different than what Ginn was attempting. All communities, as well as, most individuals are feeling the effects of this economy. We haven’t seen the end of it and it will bankrupt most who can’t weather it and are not prepared for its effects. But, life will go on and somewhere in the future, there will be other great communities that will be developed, that’s just life!! We can blame someone else for our bad decisions, like most people who won’t accept responsibilty, or we can move forward and learn from our mistakes. Sometimes you get the BEAR and other times the BEAR gets you!!!
Another Reply to Dave
Your concept sounds good, but what you staed will not take place anytime soon. America is heading for disaster and is taking the law abiding people with it.
How much did the residents @ The Cliffs have to pay to the developer just recently to aid in their financial crisis? The ultra wealthy are a minimal portion of this country and people such as myself who are retired have nothing to gain in attempting to sell our home that we built pre-Ginn.
Those thieves destroyed our neighborhood in a timely manner with grandious plans that never came to fruition. It was all a bunch of lies – an arrogant dog and pony show!
None of us believed a word they were saying re Bobby’s VISION. A vision to line his pockets and those of LA.