Trailer park residents offered buyouts

By BRIAN SKOLOFF, Associated Press WriterTue Jan 2, 2:16 PM ET



The owners of nearly 500 mobile homes in one of the last waterfront trailer-park towns in South Florida stand to become instant millionaires if they agree to sell to a developer. But some are holding out, saying there are things more important than money.

"You just can't buy a way of life," said Tom Byrne, a 68-year-old retired sales executive from New York who doesn't want to sell even though he would make a little over $1 million on the trailer and site he bought two years ago for $150,000. "This is my home."

Briny Breezes is a down-market relic of old Florida, surrounded by glamorous multimillion-dollar homes and splashy high-rise condos.
The Briny Breezes brochure calls it a "self-governed mobile home community of kindred souls." Residents of the Palm Beach County town cruise the narrow streets on golf carts, passing palm trees and tiny, neatly manicured yards. They wave to each other and chat about the next neighborhood outing — water aerobics at the community pool, shuffleboard near the clubhouse, bowling night.

With 600 feet of oceanfront property and an additional 1,100 feet along the Intracoastal Waterway, real estate like this in southeastern Florida is pure gold.

Boca Raton-based Ocean Land Investments has big plans for the property if the deal goes through, as many residents are certain will happen. The company envisions about 900 low-rise multimillion-dollar condo units, a high-end marina and a 300-room luxury hotel.

"There really is no other piece of property like this in Florida," said Logan Pierson, the company's vice president of acquisitions. The 43-acre town sprouted from a strawberry farm in the 1920s, back when Florida's charm was its subtropical weather and quiet, coastal bliss — long before the days of Art Deco, "Miami Vice" and Walt Disney World.

So-called "tin-can tourists" came down yearly with their trailers to escape the Northern cold. A group of regular visitors bought the property in 1958, and it became a town in 1963. It is run as a corporation by a board of directors, and residents own shares based on the size and location of their lots.

"This is pretty much it for an affordable community along the coast," said Debbi Murray of the Historical Society of Palm Beach County. "It's just another piece of Floridiana that is going to disappear."

Briny Breezes' board recently approved the sale for $510 million. The owners of the 488 trailers have until Jan. 10 to ratify or reject the deal. A two-thirds majority is needed to sell. The amount each person would get depends on how many shares the resident owns. Each share is worth roughly $32,000 under the developer's offer. Owners would not get any money — and wouldn't have to move out — until 2009.

Kevin Dwyer, 47, is all for the deal. Dwyer, who paid just $37,500 for his trailer nine years ago, would make about $800,000. "See these pockets? They're empty," Dwyer said, a stack of unpaid bills sitting on a table in his single-wide trailer less than 100 yards from the ocean. "I've nickeled and dimed my whole life. I hit the lottery."

Pierson acknowledged that the loss of Briny Breezes means a piece of old Florida will be gone forever. But he said that because of the town's location on a barrier island, a hurricane could eventually wipe out Briny Breezes.

"At some point Briny is going to face a bad storm," he said. "There are other potential threats out there other than development."Palm Beach County Commissioner Mary McCarty is not so sure it's a done deal because of constraints on zoning, water, sewage and traffic. "I find the developers extremely optimistic to the point of being delusional," she said.

For one thing, the community is in a hurricane evacuation zone and has few ways in or out. Developers will have to clear their plans through the state before any dirt is moved, and neighboring communities will have a chance to weigh in.


"This would be extremely complicated and extremely unpopular," McCarty said. "But people see dollar signs and it sparks the imagination."
John and Gay Sideris, retired teachers from New York who bought their home in 2001, are conflicted.

"It will be good for us because we'll be able to help our family, but this is an amazing place to live. You know all your neighbors. You can walk your dog in your pajamas," said Gay Sideris, 70.

"If you sneeze, a neighbor hands you a napkin," added John Sideris, 71. The couple paid just $155,000 for their home and now stand to make close to $1.5 million. "We've been living a beautiful life," John Sideris said, sitting in a chair, staring out his window at his boat tied up to a dock just feet away. Asked how he would vote, he crossed his arms and breathed a heavy sigh. "The money is great, but you can't get another place like this to live," he said. "It's like Club Med."

Just saw this one myself: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16440697/?GT1=8921

I wonder if something like this could hapen to say "Camping on the Gulf" near Sandestin. I had heard they turned down a lot of money from a developer too, but I do not know if this is true or not.l

So time in the last year, I had heard that Camping on the Gulf was discussing an offer with a buyer, but I didn't know what became of it.

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Last I heard, a few months ago, the owners had once again turned the offer down...I hope they hold out, there is something wonderful about camping on the Gulf--and something wonderful about holding on to your land regardless of how much money is offered.

Camping on the Gulf has to be a great Cash Flow for the owners. Why sell the Goose which lays the golden eggs?

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Well I talked to the developer who bought the property behind mine for some $5 million dollars "Tangomar Estates" and he told me Camping on the Gulf turned down $60 million. If one would to invest the net proceeds of such a sale in just simple Cds even after the 15% cap gains tax was paid they would be making a bunch of money annually that would surely out gain their current annual net (?)

At least I would think so....

You are probably correct, but if a property in this area is creating positive cash flow, which that one is, and lots of it, that value of the land ten years down the road, might be worth a substantial amount more than $60 million. Then again, it might be worth less.

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No kidding. Those RVs are stacked on top of each other- it looks more like "parking" than "camping" to me. The owners totally max out the space!!!!

I guess they should really call it "Park your RV Here!"

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Or..."Home is where you park it".

maybe someone will do that to the brickyard area

Update on the property that started this thread:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070110/...ollar_trailers

Developer pulls out of Briny Breezes deal
By Eliot Kleinberg, Susan R. Miller
Palm Beach Post Staff Writers

Monday, July 30, 2007

UPDATED: 9:23 p.m. July 30, 2007

The Briny Breezes sale is off.

Ocean Land Developers sent certified documents this morning telling the corporate board the deal to buy the mobile home park for $510 million and convert it to a resort had fallen through, Ocean Land Vice President Logan Pierson said.

Pierson said Ocean Land had asked the corporate board to push back by 45 days Friday's deadline, where Ocean Land's non-refundable deposit would jump from $500,000 to $5 million, but the board refused.

"We really felt we were put in a very difficult situation," Pierson said this morning.

Pierson adamantly denied Ocean Land —buffeted by criticism from Briny's neighbors, advocates for responsible growth, and regulatory agencies that the project's scope was incompatible with the neighborhood — was looking for an excuse to walk away.

He also dismissed as ludicrous the idea that Ocean Land had, from the start, conducted a massive "bait and switch," by giving Briny the only amount for which residents would sell, then proposing a project doomed to be shot down, and then coming back to weary residents to negotiate a lower price.

"When you're a development firm and you spend, with our partners, over $5 million on planning," Pierson said, "that speculation just doesn't hold water."

Residents had overwhelmingly voted in January to sell to Ocean Land, which envisioned up to 12 20-story towers, with 900 condo units, 300 time shares and a 350 room hotel.

Palm Beach County Commissioner Mary McCarty wasn't surprised by Ocean Land's decision.

"They were on a very tight timeline before they have to go hard with some serious money," said McCarty.

Robert Purcell, a member of Briny's corporate board, said they will have to re-group but for now: "I am sort of tired of the whole business. It's been a stressful time," he said.

He said it's too premature to determine what stockholders will do, noting that they did have other offers on the table that could be reconsidered.

Real estate experts suggest Ocean Land's demand for an extension was just a convenient way to make the deal go away because in today's real estate market this deal no longer made as much sense.

"Financing has become so incredibly difficult for just about any size developer. Huge developers are in a world of trouble, they are not even looking at new deals," said one expert, who didn't want to be identified.

Joseph Good of ComNet Realty has worked with Ocean Land and said it has a good track record when it comes to going forward with deals. He believes the decision to walk away was market driven.

"It's terrifying; there seems to be an absence of buyers and to do a high-rise multi-unit project, any lender is going to require pre-sale sand right now-- it's hard to get presales," Good said.

"It's a boom bust world."

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But hey...Top Ramen tastes a whole lot better when you eat it off of a Granite Countertop. (Mr & Mrs Too Much Homebuyer)

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