Two companies are teaming up to develop the last neighborhoods in Grey Oaks in Naples. As one of the finest luxury communities in Southwest Florida, Grey Oaks features three top-flight golf courses, two clubhouses at Grey Oaks and the Estuary at Grey Oaks, and superb amenities with dining, fitness, and tennis. The communities range from condos starting in the $700's to new construction estates at more than $7 million. See below:
Two companies have teamed up to acquire one of the last neighborhoods to be built in the affluent Grey Oaks golf community.
Halstatt Partnership – the community’s original developer – has acquired Traditions, the Golf Residences, along with CC Devco Homes, a Codina-Carr company based in Coral Gables on Florida’s east coast.
The companies were the winning bidder at a court-approved auction in Tampa in April. The deal was finalized at the end of last month.
The property – off Airport-Pulling Road on the northeast border of Naples – was entangled in a Chapter 11 bankruptcy case involving LDG South II LLC.
The sale includes 16 luxury coach homes, four completed and 12 under construction. At buildout, Traditions could have about 120 homes.
The coach homes have four homes each. To date, 16 have been sold in the neighborhood.
Court records show Halstatt and CC Devco bid $13.3 million for the 37-acre property. In 2006, LDG South II paid about $24.5 million for the undeveloped land, according to Collier County clerk records.
Bank of America had a mortgage and a security interest in the property.
“I think the bank talked to several folks, but in the end we were the sole bidder,” said Katie Sproul, president of the Halstatt Partnership based in Naples.
LDG is short for Landmark Development Group. After the housing boom went bust, the development company abruptly closed its doors in 2008. Later, new managers took over LDG and its related companies and then filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, hoping to reorganize.
In the end, the companies will all be liquidated.
Last year, as part of LDG South’s bankruptcy case, another chunk of property in Grey Oaks was sold to a group of out-of-town institutional investors. The investors purchased 56 lots and four model homes in two single-family neighborhoods – Miramonte and Torino. They have partnered with The Ronto Group in Naples to build them out.
For Halstatt, which developed the clubhouse, the golf courses, and other amenities in Grey Oaks, building homes is a new venture.
CC Devco is a four-year-old partnership between Armando Codina and Jim Carr, who have more than 66 years of combined experience in South Florida real estate.
“The focus is residential. We are just looking for a great property,” said Jim Carr, CEO of CC Devco.
He said the fact that Grey Oaks is an established gated community with hundreds of homes at the tail-end of development is appealing. He called the partnership with Halstatt, part of the Barron Collier Cos., a perfect match.
“Both of us hope that this is the first of many great projects that we do together,” Carr said. “The intent is not that we do the one thing together.”
He said it’s a good time to invest in real estate, with the housing market starting to recover. In Broward County, his company is building a community called Monterra, where it has sold 400 homes in the past year.
“Give value, give quality and make a great investment and people will respond,” Carr said.
Prices are still to be determined in Traditions, but they’ll be more affordable than a few years ago when building stopped.
“The Colliers and ourselves fully understand there has been an adjustment in the market,” Carr said.
Future plans for Traditions are being worked out. New home designs could be introduced.
“We believe very much in Grey Oaks,” Sproul said. “And this was an opportunity to make an investment to continue to complete the final phase of it.”
The LDG companies have now sold all of the property they owned in Grey Oaks.
Mike Diamond, a co-manager of The Newport Cos., which stepped in to manage LDG’s various limited liability companies after they ran into financial trouble, said he was surprised to only see one bid for the Traditions property.
“I think in the right product mix it could be successful,” he said. “Grey Oaks is still very desirable.”
Grey Oaks was named one of the top 35 residential country club communities in the U.S. by Platinum Club of America. It also was recognized as a top 100 golf community by Travel & Leisure Golf magazine.
“We have made this purchase with the backdrop of the success that Grey Oaks has been able to achieve,” Sproul said. “We recently went through a member turnover with a 98 percent approval rating, with no assessments and no debt – a real achievement in these economic times.”
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