Home sales slump continues

Orlando-area home sales ended the year on a downward note, as single-family home sales dropped by 37 percent and condo sales in December saw a 66 percent decline, according to the monthly and year-end sales reports from the Florida Association of Realtors.

The Orlando area saw existing condo sales fall from 320 in the last month of 2006 to 108 last month. For the year, 2,141 condos sold in the Orlando area, a 57 percent decline from the 4,933 sold in all of 2006.

December median condo prices also saw a 7 percent drop, from $163,600 in December 2006 to $152,300 in December 2007. For all of 2007, the median condo price fell to $158,500, 5 percent less than the $166,100 posted in 2006.

Single-family homes also saw slower sales, both in December and for the year, the association's report says. Sales were 1,134 last month, which compares with 1,790 in December 2006. The median home price fell 13 percent in December, from $260,800 in 2006 to $226,100 last month. Year-end sales totaled 17,143, also a 37 percent decline from the 27,212 sold in 2006. The median sales price on single-family homes was $248,900 in 2007, 5 percent less than the $262,900 posted in 2006.

Source : http://www.bizjournals.com/

ChampionsGate Welcomes Omni Orlando Resort

New 730-Room Destination is Heart of the Golf Lifestyle Community

ChampionsGate golf resort, southwest of Orlando, recently celebrated the official opening of the Omni Orlando Resort at ChampionsGate Saturday, with the slicing of a red ribbon by golfing great Arnold Palmer, his grandson, Sam Saunders, community developers, David and Ira Mitzner, Lee Neibart, and Omni Hotels president Mike Deitemeyer.

The new flagship resort for Omni Hotels is the first major hotel project nationwide financed and completed after 9-11. The 730-room Omni Orlando Resort is at the heart of ChampionsGate, and represents a new landmark for Central Florida tourism. At 16 stories, the resort is the tallest building in Osceola County. It will sit adjacent to the 558-unit ChampionsGate master planned community that includes condos, townhomes, estate homes and resort villas.

"The Omni Orlando Resort is a testament to the vision of my father who believed in this location years before it emerged as a prime destination," said Ira Mitzner, president of RIDA Development Corporation. "The fact that the hotel opened on time showcases the commitment of our partners within the ChampionsGate family."

The new Omni is a partnership that includes New York-based Apollo Real Estate Advisors and Houston-based RIDA Development Corporation. Major lenders were skeptical about approving new loans for hotels after 9-11, especially in the Orlando market. Yet, both Omni Hotels and RIDA Development Corporation were confident Orlando needed more high-end properties.

"It took a great deal of soul searching and number crunching to get the deal done," said Mitzner, "But we believe this is a perfect fit for the community and Orlando has a strong demand in the luxury resort segment."

After financing, RTKL spearheaded the design, and Welbro Construction made the resort come alive. At first, the building breezed along on time. Then Mother Nature christened the resort with hurricanes Charley, Francis and Jeanne, and a glancing blow from Hurricane Ivan, just as the Omni was nearing completion.

"The hurricanes hit at the finishing stretch. We were racing to put the final touches on the hotel and all of a sudden we had to deal with threats of 115-mile-an-hour winds," said John Fischer, vice president Rida Development. "We basically planted the trees around the resort four times."

The storms put strain on last-minute supplies and government approvals. Inspectors worked long hours to try to keep the new resort on track and on schedule.

ChampionsGate a Welcome Neighbor
"The coordination with Osceola County was fabulous. Without the work of the inspectors and building department during a challenging time for our county, we could not have completed this project," Mitzner said. "We owe them a debt of gratitude."

Actually, it is Osceola County officials who say they are thankful for ChampionsGate. The development is expected to pump millions of dollars in property resort fees and sales taxes into the county. The Omni is an example of the upscale hotel development that the county craves.

"The opening of Omni Orlando Resort at ChampionsGate could not come at a better time," said Ken Shipley, chairman of the Osceola County Commission. "This brings a stunning four-star property to our area that we expect will serve as a beacon to welcome guests to Central Florida. Ira and David Mitzner are the most professional team I have had the pleasure to work with - and for that I am incredibly thankful."

For Omni Hotels the opening represents a new flagship hotel in the top tourism destination in the country. The destination golf resort includes more than 70,000 square feet of meeting space, a 10,000 square-foot European-style spa, and two par-72 championship golf courses, the National and the International, designed by golf great, Greg Norman.

ChampionsGate hosts the Office Depot Father/Son Golf Challenge, nationally telecast on NBC-TV. ChampionsGate is also home to the world headquarters of the internationally acclaimed David Leadbetter Golf Academy.

"The reception The Omni Orlando Resort has received since welcoming it first guest this past October is heartwarming," said Michael Deitemeyer, president of Omni Hotels. "We helped design this hotel so it would be built to four-star standards and would represent the sensible luxury that Omni delivers to its guests. Our standards were tested even before opening."

At ChampionsGate, the Omni is just the beginning. Del Webb has announced plans to build, BellaTrae a $200 million community of luxury townhomes, condos and villas near the new resort. Construction is also about to start for the Villas at ChampionsGate, a luxury condo community of nine buildings with a variety of floor plans designed to meet the high standards of future owners and residents.

"We are really building a lifestyle," Mitzner said. "With the new Omni Orlando Resort, this community has the heart of a champion. It is clear that nothing is going to stop us from achieving greatness and bringing to Central Florida a new vacation destination and a new hometown."

About ChampionsGate
ChampionsGate is Florida's premiere golf resort community, encompassing some 1,500 acres southwest of Orlando. ChampionsGate, with its beautifully designed double gates, welcomes visitors off Interstate 4, just south of the Walt Disney World Resort.

ChampionsGate is being developed as a joint venture by Apollo Real Estate Advisors of New York and RIDA Development Corporation of Houston. ChampionsGate has a projected value of approximately $1 billion and is expected to include 2,864 hotel rooms, 2,136 resort villas, condominiums, townhomes and apartments, 36 holes of golf, and 426,000 square feet of retail space, making ChampionsGate one of the region's largest resort destinations.

Source : http://www.condohotelcenter.com/

55 West may add hotel to residential condos

Changes are coming to 55 West on the Esplanade.

The project's lender, SNS Property Finance of the Netherlands, foreclosed on the property Jan. 7. The lender also replaced the developer, Tampa-based Euro American Advisors Inc., with Grosse Pointe Development Co. of Fort Myers.

Grosse Pointe CEO Bob Hensley characterized SNS Property Finance's actions as a "friendly foreclosure" and says work on 34-story tower on Church Street will continue.

"The bank is willing to step up and complete the project. The job will not shut down, and the building will be finished in November," Hensley says. "This is not a contentious thing. [Euro American] is welcoming our involvement."

Hensley was quick to say Grosse Pointe is not an investor in the 55 West project and will only oversee the completion of the project. Grosse Pointe and SNS Property Finance have a long-term relationship, Hensley says, noting that SNS Property Finance is a limited partner in all of the firm's Florida developments.

Along with a change in developers will come a change in focus. Hensley says the project will still contain residential condos, but Grosse Pointe is considering adding a boutique suite-oriented hotel and office space.

Of the 405 residential units originally planned for the building, the project has about 260 contracts to purchase. Those contracts will be honored, Hensley says.

Hensley is unsure how much of the building might be converted into non-residential uses.

"We're still analyzing what to do with the space that is not sold and the space that is not designed for today's market," Hensley says of features like tower's two-story penthouse suites.

Source : http://www.bizjournals.com/

Condo Trends: Florida Reaching the Bottom?

If you're looking for a piece of Florida at the lowest price you'll see in years, then 2008 may be that year to buy into the Sunshine State. Condominium inventory has soared over the last 20 months and about 35,000 units were recently completed or about to be completed this year, according to Florida Trend Magazine.

The median price of a condo in Florida stands at about $187,000 according the Florida Association of Realtors, down 9 percent from last year at the same reporting period. Meanwhile, the number of units sold compared to the same time last year is down 29 percent.

Nevertheless, investors are moving in to grab good deals while they can in this buyers market. The demand for condos should continue upward as the state brings in more than 300,000 new residents per year, second only to the state of Texas.

Keeping mind that all the bad news for sellers means a land of opportunity for savvy buyers, real estate speculators are counting on softening prices and plenty of seller and builder contributions to sweeten the deals to be had in Florida's condo market.

The economy continues to plug along, albeit at a slower pace, according to the University of Central Florida's Institute for Economic Competitiveness. All in all, the economy is taking a breather and that means opportunity for buyers.

Source : http://www.homes101.net/

Eden condo project may morph into senior living facility

The company developing the controversial Eden Condominium project near downtown Boca Raton hopes to save it by turning it into an age-restricted combination independent and assisted living center.



As it has done in the past, the developer, Boca East LLC, brought its revised plans to City Hall on the 90th day of a 90-period the City Council had given for submission of revised plans.



In September, the council had to call a special morning meeting to approve an extension of the firm’s permits. It was the day before the documents issued to Eden would have expired



And it was not the first extension given to the troubled complex. But city officials guaranteed that it would be the last.



The council issued the firm a list of stringent regulations, a specific timetable for completion and said that any deviation from that path would nullify the extension.



The plan that arrived in City Hall four days before Christmas revises the initial proposal that had called for 248 condominium units – 62 in each of four buildings.



The developer now wants to put in 92 two-bedroom units, 87 one-bedroom units and 10 studio apartments for a total of 193 independent living units and 86 assisted living residences.



Deputy City Manager George Brown said the plans will have to go before the Planning Board and City Council for approval. The first time the proposal will see the light of municipal day will be Jan. 3 when they go before the Planning Advisory Committee.



The four-building complex located just a block south of City Hall has been in the works since 2003. One structure is done, another is nearly finished. The other two are just concrete skeletons.



The City Council had to call a special meeting Sept. 27 – one day before Eden’s permits expired – to vote on the two-year extension.


Not to grant the extension would have forced the city to take over the complex and demolish it. It would have then had to lien the property to get its money back.



At the time, at least three council members – Susan Whelchel, Bill Hager and Peter Baronoff – specifically said they have received many complaints about the project.



It was at that meeting that Charles Siemon, attorney for Eden, told the council that Boca East LLC was about to join forces with Parc Communities to turn a couple of the buildings into senior residences.



The plans at came to City Hall last week said the project will now be called Parc at Eden. It said that three of the buildings would be for independent living; the fourth for assisted living.

Source : http://www.ccfj.net/

New York Condos Lure Deal-Seeking Europeans

The sidewalks of Manhattan are crammed this month with European tourists on shopping sprees, picking up gifts that cost far less in the United States than they do at home because of the weak dollar. But they are not just crowding into boutiques and department stores. Some are also shopping for condominiums.

“There’s bargains to be had,” said Kerry Miller, a public relations executive who with her husband, Marty, a disc jockey, was working through her Christmas gift list by buying sweaters at Abercrombie & Fitch and makeup at MAC, as well as touring 32 apartments. The Millers, from Malahide, Ireland, a suburb of Dublin, searched for a one-bedroom condo. They made an offer for $700,000 on one apartment in the meatpacking district and are waiting to hear back from the seller.

While natives remain wary about real estate and worry about bonuses and the economic climate, foreign tourists are keeping brokers busy with their eagerness to buy up Manhattan apartments, which many see as investments.

“The exchange rate is like a gift from God for Europeans,” said Danielle Grossenbacher, the broker for Coldwell Banker Hunt Kennedy who showed the Millers around. “Everybody is feeling they have an opportunity to purchase a piece of Manhattan.”

These buyers are transforming a traditionally slow month for Manhattan real estate brokers at a time when brokers nationwide are struggling to sell homes. This year, Manhattan brokers are waking before dawn to talk by phone with European buyers about amenities and closing costs and working late advising foreign buyers in town on the best places to shop for gadgets and clothes.

The number of foreign buyers has doubled in the last two years, according to data from the research firm Radar Logic. In just the last 18 months, they have bought one-third of all new condos that were up for sale, said Jonathan J. Miller, an executive vice president at Radar Logic and its director of research.

“We’d have had difficulty absorbing the elevated level of new development coming on the market without foreign buyers,” Mr. Miller said. “They are a key source of demand for new development.”

Donna Olshan, a Manhattan broker, said that in December she typically received calls only from a few Wall Street bankers who had gotten their bonus numbers. This month, she said, a record number of foreign buyers have called, sent e-mail messages and shown up at her office shopping for real estate.

“We’re seeing a flurry of foreign activity from Britain, France and Italy, looking to spend their pounds and euros,” Ms. Olshan said.

Foreign buyers are helping shield Manhattan from the housing slowdown that has plagued the rest of the nation and are providing a ready market for thousands of newly built condominiums. They like condos for the amenities and flexible rules that allow renting the apartments as investments. That many units are in neighborhoods that are not traditionally residential like Midtown and the financial district does not seem to bother the shoppers. They like that those neighborhoods are well known.

Diane Ramirez, president of the real estate brokerage Halstead Property, said foreign buyers would make up about 20 percent of the firm’s sales transactions in 2007 in terms of dollars spent compared with nearly 15 percent in 2005. Ms. Ramirez said that five years ago, there were no apartments for foreign buyers because the market was made up mainly of co-ops whose owners would not welcome them into their buildings.

Real estate brokers project that foreign buyers will continue their shopping sprees for condos and clothes through the new year with the expectation that the dollar will continue to weaken.

Jonathan Fletcher, who works in information technology, and Aine Marshall, a dentist, came to Manhattan from London to buy a $1 million investment property. Mr. Fletcher, who is considering buying in the financial district, where he believes there is opportunity for appreciation, plans to put down his deposit money first and wait for the dollar to weaken more before paying for the entire apartment. Even if he does not buy an apartment, the savings from shopping in the United States covered the cost of the trip, he said. They spent a total of $8,000 on clothes, a camera and a $5,000 drum set that would have cost about double back home.

Foreign buyers often purchase quickly because they largely view these apartments as investments like a bond or a stock. Dorothy Somekh, a Halstead broker, said that in an afternoon a Belgian couple she represented bought a $1.7 million two-bedroom condo at the Sheffield in Midtown to rent out for about $7,500 a month. After the couple signed the contract, they headed to Abercrombie & Fitch to shop for clothes for their daughters.

“They’re not really sophisticated investors,” Ms. Somekh said. “But they thought, ‘Where else can I put my money?’”

Anne Marie Moriarty, a Corcoran broker, recently coordinated her meetings with an Italian buyer, Roberto Lorenzon, around his family’s shopping schedule. She showed him some apartments after his trip to Gap Kids for his son and daughter. She met Mr. Lorenzon, a financial adviser, at Victoria’s Secret while he waited for his wife to finish her shopping. While Mr. Lorenzon had a deal fall through on a $1.3 million penthouse in Murray Hill, he will visit again in January.

“She was all about the stores, and he was all about the condos,” Ms. Moriarty said. “All of the hours were arranged around shopping.”

But Mr. Lorenzon said that in this “very favorable period” for investing and buying in New York, he had bought clothes, a neck massager, a digital picture album and toys for his children.

Of course, a busy shopping season means that Manhattan brokers are running out of time to buy family gifts. Ms. Moriarty, who has worked every day for six straight weeks, has resigned herself to shopping with the last-minute crowds. By the weekend, she said, her British, Irish and Italian buyers will “be home with their presents.”

Source : http://biz.yahoo.com/