City Center land in Port St. Lucie will be sold to Hollywood developer for $750,000 (Jupiter: sale)

[DesertDwellers]

I live a few minutes down the road.. Did my property just double in value?



https://www.tcpalm.com/story/news/lo...yer/460657002/


Construction on the long-awaited City Center entertainment district — with restaurants, shops, apartments and a hotel — could begin as soon as September 2019, City Manager Russ Blackburn said Monday.



https://www.tcpalm.com/story/news/lo...ld/1378502002/


PORT ST. LUCIE — A federal judge has approved the sale of 21 acres at City Center to a real estate investment firm for $750,000, setting the stage for a long-awaited downtown entertainment district with restaurants and shops.

The City Council is to discuss the City Center deal Monday.
As part of the deal, BA City Center LLC, an affiliate of Biscayne Atlantic of Hollywood, would assume the payment of $24 million in back property taxes and assessments, court records say.
Biscayne Atlantic principal David Garfinkle declined to comment on his plans for City Center.

"We do anticipate preliminary meetings with the city over the next few weeks to review our preliminary plans, and are excited by the opportunity to work with Port St Lucie to make City Center a success," Garfinkle said in an email.
Michael Goldberg, the Securities and Exchange Commission receiver overseeing the City Center property, on Friday did not respond to telephone and email messages seeking comment..
City officials on Friday declined to address questions about the back taxes and assessments.
Last year, City Manager Russ Blackburn said the city likely would have to give up some of the assessments or the properties would be an impossible sell.
The assessments run about $2 million per year, court records show.

The 21 acres at U.S. 1 and Walton Road has a market value of $5.5 million, property appraiser records show.
City Center has been tied up in court since November 2015, when the SEC filed a complaint against previous owner, Lin "Lily" Zhong and US1 Real Estate Developments LLC, alleging she made misleading and false statements to international investors.
Zhong did not oppose the receiver taking possession of the property or selling it, court records show.
Zhong on Friday did not return phone messages and emails seeking comment.
U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard handed down an order Aug. 23 authorizing Goldberg to sell City Center "with all faults" to BA City Center for $750,000.
The receiver's deed contains a clause in which BA City Center agrees to pay all back taxes and assessments.
The back taxes and assessments and the city-imposed restrictions on City Center development made the property difficult to sell, Goldberg said in a court filing.

City officials decided against buying the parcels after talking with him, Goldberg said in the filing.
A city spokeswoman declined to say why Port St. Lucie passed on the purchase or to explain details on the assessments.
"The planned update will be that the City Center parcels held by the receiver are under contract to Biscayne Atlantic as stated in the agenda item," said city spokeswoman Sarah Prohaska in an email.
"City staff has held meetings with Biscayne Atlantic in the past relative to their interest in the property and expects that the buyer will request further meetings in regard to the property," spokeswoman Sarah Prohaska in an email.
The city staff has been given no other information by either the SEC or the buyer, she said.
The receiver retained commercial real estate broker Avison Young-Florida in July 2017 to market the City Center land, court records show.
The companies that responded to a wide-ranging outreach wanted to buy individual lots to build a single store or business, court records show.
Goldberg eventually engaged in extensive negotiations with Biscayne Atlantic, which specializes in turning around distressed properties, and the struck a deal.
The City Center project started in 2001, when Port St. Lucie adopted a community-redevelopment plan for the former Village Green Shopping Center.

The city entered a redevelopment agreement for the 41-acre site in 2005 with DeGuardiola Properties, one of the developers of Abacoa in Jupiter, in hopes the company would recreate the mixed-use downtown.
But the Great Recession stalled the project and DeGuardiola Properties sold the City Center land to one of Zhong's companies in 2013. Two years later it was in the hands of the SEC receiver.

[aridon]

No it didn't.

[PortStLucieWater]

We'll see how this unfolds. It would be great for the city if something came of this but with how everything else in the area has played out -- likely not. If you look at the portfolio of the firm who acquired this -- their main experience appears to be primarily in multifamily residential and office space.

[ServoMiff]

Originally Posted by aridon

No it didn't.

Exactly, and nor did this - $750k plus $8 million in back taxes = a lot more than the property is worth. No disclosure about how much of the back taxes were waived, but it would be presumably at, or below the value of the property to get an investor to bite.