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September 2, 2010 |
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| November 12, 2008 |
By: Terry Sheridan |
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lthough the homebuilding industry is mired in the worst downturn in generations, Centerline Homes is preparing for a rebound with the acquisition of a 106-acre parcel in Parkland for the bargain price of $11.12 million.
The parcel was owned by Tousa Homes, the Hollywood home-builder that’s in Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Tousa bought the site for $53 million in January 2006. The seller at that time was a partnership that included developer George de Guardiola, who built the Abacoa Town Center in Jupiter.
At $104,980 per acre, Centerline paid 79 percent less than Tousa’s $500,472-per-acre price two years earlier. Coral Springs-based Centerline plans to build 70 townhouses restricted to buyers age 55 and over, and 177 single-family homes with no age restrictions.
Called Parkland Reserve, the proposed project will be at the northeast corner of Nob Hill Road and Trails End near the northwestern boundary of Broward County. Parkland Reserve will be the city’s first community to include age-restricted homes, said City Manager Caryn Gardner-Young.
The proposal goes before the city’s Community Appearance Board on Thursday, and to the city commission late this month or early December, Gardner-Young said.
Centerline “not only got a good price on the land, but Tousa had already begun work on the infrastructure,” she said.
Tousa filed for bankruptcy protection in January. The company listed assets of $2.1 billion and debts of $2 billion. Tousa bankruptcy attorney Paul Singerman of Berger Singerman in Miami did not return a phone call seeking comment.
According to Broward County property records, the land was transferred by Tousa last June to a limited liability company called DOA Properties IX (Lots-Other) LLC that shares the same Minneapolis address as GMAC Mortgage LLC, which does business as Ditech.
DOA Properties sold the land to Centerline as Parkland Reserve LLC.
Centerline executives declined to discuss the project.
According to the company’s Web site, the three- and four-bedroom townhouses will be priced from the mid-$200,000s.
Single-family homes priced from the mid-$300,000s will be offered in five models of one or two stories with three to five bedrooms and lofts, up to four baths and two- or three-car garages.
The homes are to be part of the mixed-use Village Square project, which is intended to create a town center of shops and restaurants for heavily residential Parkland. A nearby public elementary school also is planned.
When Tousa ran into financial problems, the Village Square project also stalled, said Parkland Mayor Michael Udine.
The project hinges on a mix of commercial and residential uses, and the commercial component depends on the Centerline residential project to create the “village,” he said.
Developer Barry Ross of Ross Realty Investments in Davie still plans to build the commercial portion of Village Square but is waiting for progress on the residential component.
“We’re going through the approval process but instead of starting construction six months ago, we don’t plan on starting for another year until we see homes being absorbed and new homes being built,” Ross said. “Our little mixed-use project needs the new homes.”
Ross’ portion of Village Square also was to include about 10 residential lofts but that housing may be transferred to Centerline, he said.
Centerline’s cut-rate land purchase will allow the developer to build less expensive houses, he said.
“That’s how things will get started again, through desperate deals that almost give away the land. Developers will be able to come out with affordable stuff,” Ross said.
According to third-quarter data from Metrostudy, a housing analysis firm in West Palm Beach, the supply of completed unsold new homes for the six-county area from Miami-Dade through Indian River won’t be absorbed for at least six months.
Third-quarter housing starts in the six-county area fell from 1,454 units in the second quarter to 884 — the slowest pace in more than a decade, according to Metrostudy.
Projects still in the planning stages may not be completed for two years — if ever, according to the Metrostudy analysis.
In Miami-Dade, 15,197 housing units are proposed, down from 16,503 in the fourth quarter of 2006. In Broward, 11,992 units are planned, compared with a peak of 12,500 in the second quarter this year. And Palm Beach’s 40,511 proposed units are down from 55,979 planned during the county’s peak in the third quarter of 2007.
Despite the current crisis in the housing market, Parkland’s reputation as a high-end place to live works in Centerline’s favor, said Brad Hunter, chief economist and national director of consulting for Metrostudy.
And the age-restricted townhouses will appeal to the growing number of baby boomers downsizing to smaller homes, he said.
Terry Sheridan can be reached at (954) 468-2614.
Michael Udine photo by Melanie Bell
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