by Michele Newbern Gillis
Staff writer
Jardin du Mer, a 104-unit French Provincial-style condominium on Beach Boulevard near 15th Street, is well underway with tenants moving in by the end of this month.
Jardin de Mer, which means “Garden by the Sea,” is being developed by John Sisk of American Shelter.
The development is 16 blocks from the beach and is being built on maybe the last large tract of land left at the beach. The land was part of the highly publicized struggle for Home Depot to build a location there. Home Depot lost and Jardin de Mer won.
“We were looking desperately and diligently for a large enough parcel at the beach to build a development,” said Louise Stone, the executive assistant to Sisk. “And as Will Rogers said, ‘They ain’t making anymore land’. This was already multi-family zoned and when they turned down Home Depot, we succeeded in outbidding other people for the parcel. We also bought the land across the street for future development.”
Sisk built the Cloister and the Breakers condominium units at the beach years ago.
“He has an extremely good track record and by driving by any of his developments you can see how well they have held up,” said Stone.
Stone said they will be developing 96 units on the second parcel when the first development is sold out.
“It is convenient to a gym, golf courses, restaurants, ball parks and the beach,” said Marilyn McDaniel, a site agent for Jardin de Mer.
The development will have a total of 13 buildings in its first phase. Each building will have eight units and 32 have already been sold.
Currently, there are seven buildings under construction and the rest of the buildings should be complete by the end of the year.
Select Realty, a real estate company at the beach, is the listing real estate company. Four agents from Select Realty, broker Lee Longino, Priscilla Roland, Marty Moore and McDaniel, were selected to be the site agents for the new development.
Prices for the two and three bedroom, 1,200 - 1,500 square foot units range from $175,000 to $210,000. Each unit has a garage and a small coffee terrace.
“They are well designed to use every bit of the floor space, a garage is included with each unit and each unit comes with all appliances including washer and dryer,” said Stone. “They have 9 and 12 foot ceilings and I think the value for the square footage is great.”
Considering most condominiums at the beach start around $400,000, Jardin de Mer is affordable housing, they say.
“They are affordable and we intend to keep them that way,” said Stone. “But, these are introductory prices and they will be accelerating as the units become more scarce and we get closer to build out.”
McDaniel said they have encountered all walks of life interested in purchasing the condominiums.
Investors, single young professionals, Navy personnel and retirees have all shown interest. Stone said they are receiving a large response from age ranges 25-54.
“The only thing we haven’t had is families with children, but we are hoping to see them soon,” said McDaniel.
The sales office is open from 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon - 5 p.m. on Sunday.