.Marina Grande on the Halifax. End of the Era. The end of the crisis, uncertainty, crazy low prices…
I believe Marina Grande on the Halifax is the last condo development in Florida with still unsold units since the crisis of last decade. It may sound crazy, but this is true. 14 years after it was built, it still has just a few unsold units.
Don’t get me wrong, these are two magnificent 25-story towers on the Intracoastal, great grounds, great amenities, one of a kind, nothing comparable in the whole area…
How could it even happen?
Looking back
It is all about hype. 486 units for a relatively small Daytona is a lot to chew, and at that time there were so many other condos coming on the market, so when the market started slowing down, there was no way in hell to absorb this huge inventory.
Investors started running like rats from a sinking ship, managed to get their deposits back, and a huge complex was stuck with about 400 units with no chance to sell them.
The Developer – Boca Developers – buckled under the enormous financial pressure and gave the property back to the Lender, builder sued the developer, developer sued the builder, and the building got stuck in the legal mud for a very long time.
There were no sales, as the lawsuits made it impossible to get financing. And then a slew of foreclosures came, and then a slew of short sales… It was the low of this magnificent project. Units were sold for pennies. The lowest priced 2-bedroom went for $112,900 in April of 2011, a far cry from the original $416,000. We sold the second lowest price 2-bedroom unit (1406) in a short sale for $114,000 in July 2012, and the original price 5 years prior was $490,000.
What a crazy time…
Rumors were bad, one worse than another. People insisted that the towers were leaning. I guess they longed for the fame of Pisa in Italy. Of course, this was total BS. But empty towers were sure deteriorating. Leaks in empty buildings were not noticed until the water made it all the way from the 17-floor to the 4th floor, and there was a lot of drywall and kitchens to replace… Small cracks not taken care of attributed to the problem, and when Swerdlow group with their new partner came as a bulk purchaser in February 2011, they had to deal with all these issues to make their $60 Mil investment work
They did … and they didn’t. Cherchez la femme could unfortunately be a reason here, but I better shut up:)
New bulk owners had high expectations, we all wanted this depressed market to end, so we also had high hopes, but life does not care about our expectations, and sales were sluggish, and management was… well, cherchez la femme…
And in 2018 they sold the remaining 150 units and commercial Plaza for $25 Mil to an aggressive bulk purchaser from New York. They brought back ReMax and set a professional sale operation and started selling off the units.
We have only 7 units left for sale by bulk owner. Only 7… Prices from $300K and up. And in one or two weeks we will bid goodbye to a long era of uncertainty, low prices, unpredictable future.
Looking forward
From now on there will be only resales.
Our market is no different to the rest of Florida, and, I believe, the nation, so what does it mean for marina Grande on the Halifax.
Currently there are only 40 condos from $62,000 to $540,000 for sale in the city of Daytona Beach out of 5,412 condo units total. 0.74%.
This is what “crazy market” really means. “Healthy” market should be at about 7% or about 380 condo units for sale. We are drastically lower. And when Marina Grande on the Halifax will have units on resale only, and they will have the same 0.74%, it will be only 3-4 units for sale.
Without a question, the price, not dominated by a competition with the bulk seller, will go up dramatically. And we will start seeing it in a month or two if not earlier. The unforeseen result of it are the rentals. Bulk Seller was managing rentals in Marina Grande on the Halifax. An unfurnished 2-bedroom with a den was about $1,850, but now you will see $2,200 a month.
This is the end of the era.
If you want to capitalize on the crisis long gone, call me, Jon Zolsky, 386-405-4408. In the last 2 months we sold 2 condos in Marina Grande, and today signed another contract. It was unit #8, and now there are 7 remaining. If in 1 year you do not make $100K profit, it will be a surprise. But if I bought in Marina Grande on the Halifax, I would not sell it for as long as I live.
