by J. Brooks Terry
Staff Writer
Roughly two weeks after the announcement that Berkman Plaza — now a 22-story high rise apartment building — would soon be converted to a condominium community, residents currently renting there are making it clear: they aren’t happy about it.
Wednesday evening, residents in the building were presented with the awkward situation of being sold their own apartments that are being upgraded with stainless steel kitchen equipment, hardwood floors and marble countertops.
“It’s disappointing,” said Mark Kloeppel, a resident of over six months. “It wasn’t a total surprise that this is happening, but we didn’t expect the asking prices to be so high.”
Units in the soon-to-be converted building aren’t cheap, with square footage prices ranging from $206 to $330.
Kloeppel’s second floor apartment would fetch just under $300,000 not including rental fees, real estate taxes and homeowners insurance.
“I think it’s wonderful here,” said Linda Crofton, who moved into Berkman Plaza only one day after it was sold to Atlanta-based McRae & Stolz, “I would love to stay, but the only problem is that there are so many unknowns. It’s too early to say whether or not I’ll purchase here because no one is really sure about the added fees.”
Others feel more strongly.
“No one is going to pay that much,” another resident said. “That’s shocking. If they can get people to pay that kind of money, that’s great. Honestly, though, I would think that anyone who could write a check that big would go to a more established area like Avondale or the beaches.”
“The new owners want to make money,” a fourth resident agreed. “They want to turn a profit, but no one I know of here now is planning on staying after their lease expires.
“I know I wasn’t planning on looking to go anywhere else, but I guess I’m going to have to start looking soon. I feel like I’m losing my community.”
Resident John Mario said he’s angry at the way the news was broken.
“Ever since the new owners came in, it’s been different,” he said. “No one would talk to us until they opened their sales office. We knew it was coming, but we were kept in the dark until the letter telling us about it showed up.”
Mario and others claim they received notice only after word of the condo switch surfaced in the news.
Legally, tenants’ leases can’t be terminated early, and an option for short-term extensions has been put on the table.
Some residents speculated that McRae & Stolz wanted to be the first on the market because downtown is experiencing a condo boom. At least four developers have plans to build condos on downtown’s Northbank and Southbank. However, while they are selling the condos, they are at least a year-and-a-half away from completing any of them.
“It makes sense from a business standpoint and we know it’s nothing personal,” an eighth floor renter said, “it’s just that I don’t see how they can convert the whole building all at once without going bankrupt. I think it would have made more sense to gradually make the switch because they could have continued to collect rent from residents in rental units. After we all move out, they’ll be showing an empty building with no life in it.”
The new owners informally notified tenants in early September by a certified letter, that building was being converted to condos, ranging from $170,000, for a one-bedroom unit, to $800,000, for the eight penthouse units. The owner will change the name to The Plaza Condominium at Berkman Plaza and Marina.
Will Stolz, a partner at McRae & Stolz, said the company liked the fact that
“we have existing product now.” He said the company had plans to convert the building into condos when it was purchased. However, Florida law prohibits investors and developers from publicly discussing condo conversions until they file documents with the state and the tenants are notified.
Stolz said the company expects to sell the Berkman condos over a two-year period.
Meanwhile, tenants who have been there for six months or more had 45 days from the purchase date of the building to decide to extend their leases by up to nine months. Of the 206 apartments, 75 percent, or 150 units, are leased, according to the owners.
He said tenants can move out at the end of the existing leases, extend their leases or opt to buy their units.