Reynolds Plantation Executives Depart – Poised to Develop Ginn Communities
Front Door Communities, rumored to be financed by Lubert-Adler, will likely build in existing upscale master planned communities where LA once partnered with Bobby Ginn.
Palm Coast, FL – March 21, 2011 – Facts: (as reported in Big Builder Online) Terry Russell and Michael Langella have departed Reynolds Signature Properties’ Linger Longer Homes to start a new construction company; Front Door Communities. Langella was once Linger Longer CFO. Russell and Langella were part of a recently created Reynolds construction initiative that stalled with Linger Longer’s financial crisis.
Rumor: Front Door has linked up with Lubert-Adler and will be moving forward in master planned communities where Lubert-Adler once partnered with Bobby Ginn. Russell and Langella will be joined by three other Reynolds executives; Tom Allhoff, Mike Searles, and Richard Whiteley. Allhoff manages Ginn-LA’s Palm Coast operations for Lubert-Adler. Searles managed Reunion. Projects likely in their future plans are The Conservatory and The Gardens (both in Palm Coast) and Reunion and Bella Collina near Orlando. Other Ginn-LA communities with further development potential where Reynolds has a presence are located in Columbia, SC, Charleston, SC, and Blowing Rock, NC, and Grand Bahama.
Conservatory
It would be nice to see something happen at The Conservatory because so many people got the real raw end of the stick and lost hundreds of thousands of dolares some because they speculated and some because they realy believed on the development.
Relax the Restrictions
Hopefully, they will relax the outrageous restrictions they still have in effect for the Conservtory and Yacht Harbor for new builds.
I am a lot owner in YHV and they have me hamstrung.
Can you believe that the management company still requires a ‘kickback’ of 8% from builders on any new projects? And they still have a ‘Preferred Builder’ restriction even though the ‘Preferred Builders’ they chose are out of business or haven’t started a new project in years.
It may be time to adapt to the new economy and not let management or their realty company dictate these ridiculous rules. It hurts every owner in there.
Frank
L/A
These guys just won’t go away and now they are more involved with Reynolds. Ginn was bad enough, but this latest combo MAY be even worse.
Cobblestone Park remains without a clubhouse after 6 years. Why can’t L/A "find" the funds to complete this very important amenity? Purchaser’s of foreclosed homes are being asked to anty up $20K to belong to the "club" which is now open to anyone that drives in.
And the nightmare continues!
Reynolds
What people do not seem to realize is these guys have run these Communities into the ground on purpose to then buy them back from the Banks at cents on the dollar. Lubert Adler will be involved as they were when Laurelmor was purchased. They did everything they could to stall Kitson in his attempt to buy, because they want to manage the project, same with the Conservatory and Hammock Beach, they want a piece of everything. The Banks will hopefully not deal with them, otherwise there could be another class action lawsuit. They need to stay away and go back to North Carolina where they belong.
Absolutely worse
I agree this is probably not good for anyone who currently owns at any of these properties. If their go forward plan is anything like what they have been doing to the operations then existing owners will be ripped off yet again.
depressed
I just left the Bella Collina Clubhouse ecstatic to learn that Reynolds had been replaced.
My excitement quickly died when I read that although Reynolds is gone, Mike Searles remains. His lack of oversight at Bella Collina has resulted in more damage than good. It has been so bad that at one point I believed his goal was to MISmanage the community so that Reynolds could purchase it for pennies.
Searles hired a GM that had no prior experience, promoted a secretary with no prior experience to Membership director, and a server with no prior experience to group sales director. The nepotism in hiring practises (who you know, not what you know) is worthy of a Harvard Study on how to fail.
The lack of professionalism shown by the GM and Membership Director has resulted in countless losses of members. Searles would know this if he could simply take the time to look at the data – How many members have left? You can sign up 1,000 new members every month, but if 900 leave, you know you have a problem.
He hired a very talented chef however the very talented chef must have budget constraints that require he purchase low quality product.
It’s depressing to know that while the names have changed, the MISmanager is the same.
Bella’s only hope is a banner sign saying "UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT" with new (and qualified) on-site management. By doing so, they might be able to change the reputation of the community and bring back the many former members who could afford to live here but quickly realized that member "benefit" wasn’t there.
The golf course is amazing, the Spa under new management is amazing. The potential (and former members) are there. The only thing holding Bella from success is the management of Bella. Bella lost a lot of potential owner(s) that would have bought here while Searles tried to save pennies by hiring incompetent staff.
It’s a sad, sad day.
First-Hand Account
I witnessed the work of Russell and Langella from within the Reynolds company. The two were allowed to systematically destroy the company from within. Russell, Langella, and hired close friends spent wildly on dead-end projects & over-leveraged the company leading to its demise. To top it all off, they gutted the Reynolds organization of the talent that made Reynolds what it was in favor of keeping close friends, then took the company’s investors to form FontDoor. Mercer Reynolds allowed this to take place, so he is to blame. But, I wouldn’t trust these incompetent shysters to lead any organization.