Boca officials say no to Eden developer

Stalled project won't get another permit extension

Article Courtesy of The Sun Sentinel

By Patty Pensa

Published July 28, 2009 

 

BOCA RATON - Six years after the Eden was launched, the project is unfinished and its few residents are unsatisfied. And even after a special meeting Monday, there's no end in sight.

 

Some of the 27 owners at the development -- conceived as a luxury condominium with more than 200 homes -- sought a way out. They asked developer Boca East LLC to buy back their homes, which the developer said cannot happen without a permit.

The developer, Adam Schlesinger, came to City Hall to ask council members for another permit extension. In a unanimous vote and without explanation Monday, the five-member council turned down the developer's request.

Schlesinger's representatives argued the recently passed Senate Bill 360 gives him until 2012 to get a development approval, which could portend a legal challenge. The bill was designed to give 

Residents have been dealing with a legal morass while living in the half-finished project on Palmetto Park Road near City Hall.

developers more time to build in a sluggish economy.

City Attorney Diana Grub-Freiser called the statute convoluted and said the city would not say whether it agreed with the developer's position that it has another two years to build.
     

Residents, meanwhile, have been dealing with this morass while living in the half-finished project on Palmetto Park Road near City Hall. Only one of the four buildings is complete. A second is mostly finished while the remaining two are mere skeletons.

"Is he buying us out? My concern is if we give him an extension, who's going to finance it?" asked Joanne Williams, whose $440,000 home took two years to close. "We just want out. We want our money back and we want to move on."

After the council's vote, resident Dan Radison said he and the other owners are basically stuck. He said he expects to keep paying his $3,100 mortgage for a home he'd like to unload but can't rent or sell.

Six years after the Eden was launched, the project is unfinished and its few residents are unsatisfied.

  

"I don't blame the council," he said. "There's something wrong with this deal."

An attorney for Schlesinger described his client as meeting city deadlines and responding to city questions without the city reciprocating, which city officials disputed. The two sides also had been at odds over how much the developer was required to pay in fees.
  

"We are prepared to get financing and move forward" with a plan to turn the condos into rentals, said attorney Kelly Reagan. "Everyone will be bought out if and when we get financing. The fastest way to be bought out is if permits are in place. Anything else is a delay."

The developer has put up $750,000 in letters of credit but must provide another $250,000 commitment when the city issues its building permit. Schlesinger said he has been talking to lenders but has found it difficult to get a written loan commitment without a building permit.

Even after the council vote against a permit extension, Schlesinger could apply for a new permit. But he would have to comply with the city's stricter, post-hurricane building code. The 

Only one of the four buildings is complete. A second is mostly finished while the remaining two are mere skeletons.

developer has until 2010 to get a development approval but his building permit expires Sept. 21, which prompted Monday night's special meeting.

Three hurricanes and high construction costs stalled the project.

"In my years with the city, I've never seen a project where there's been so much confusion," said Jorge Camejo, development services director.

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