Preconstruction Developers Make All The Difference

The foremost and pre-eminent condominium developing company in Myrtle Beach is hands-down, Strand Capital Group LLC, of North Myrtle Beach.

Loyd Daniel, Patrick Lowe, and the other partners in this company are consumate gentlemen, impeccable businessmen, and have impressed me as the smartest men in the area... And Myrtle Beach is not lacking in brilliant executives, believe me.

I ran across this story in the Miami Herald today about a condo project gone bust because of poor planning on the part of the developer, and it brought to mind how impressed I had been with this group that New Resorts markets preconstruction Myrtle Beach condos for sale.

Surprisingly, the developers for this Miami project were not fly-by-nights, and in fact had been without tarnish for 25 years of business. What I DON'T understand, is why any project would be pre-sold before the zoning and construction had been approved and licensed. There's always a possibility of unforeseen circumstances that can delay a project's ground breaking...but this was on the ridiculous side to me. I cannot imagine our guys doing this. Maybe they just do things differently in Miami than they do in the Myrtle Beach condos market.

Here's part of the article with a link for more...

Posted on Fri, Dec. 30, 2005
Codina Group pulls plug on project

Well known developer Armando Codina is returning deposits on a Kendall condominium after some permitting snafus.

BY JENNIFER MOONEY PIEDRA AND MATTHEW HAGGMAN

Prominent Miami developer Armando Codina has pulled the plug on a much anticipated luxury condominium project in East Kendall, because his company didn't obtain all the necessary construction approvals from the county by a Dec. 31 deadline.

Mission Bell Park was slated to be built on 9 acres of vacant land just west of Baptist Hospital at 9100 N. Kendall Dr. About 75 percent of the units in the planned 318-unit complex had been sold.

But for the first time in the Codina Group's 25-year history, company executives say, it sent letters Wednesday notifying buyers their deposits -- plus 7.5-percent interest -- will be returned.

Esslinger Wooten Maxwell, which represented the Codina Group in marketing and selling the project, also has never been involved in a project that returned deposits, according to Ronald A. Shuffield, president of EWM, the second-largest real estate broker in South Florida.

''This project is halted indefinitely,'' said Rafael Rodon, executive vice president of the Codina Group. "That's not to say that something couldn't come back to life.''

In part, Codina's move amounts to another cautionary tale about buying preconstruction condo units, which generally are marketed and sold to the public before regulatory approvals are completed.

But typically, troubled condo projects in the current boom have run aground -- forcing developers to return deposits -- because of developers' inexperience, difficulty in getting financing, or rising construction costs.

In this instance, the developer is an accomplished veteran ready to start construction.
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