by Michele Newbern Gillis
Staff Writer
With oceanfront lot availability almost obsolete, the opportunity to find one seems like it would be a miracle.
That must be what happened to Wayne Scheiner, senior vice president of Trident Realty when he stumbled upon a 131 feet by 207 feet oceanfront lot, tucked between two beach homes, a block away from Beach Boulevard.
Now, it will become home to Water’s Edge Luxury Oceanfront Condominiums, a seven-story condominium unit.
“We were just in the right spot at the right time,” said Scheiner, “There isn’t much oceanfront property available and this piece of property became available in January. We were looking for projects to do and it just fell into place. We worked hard and got the permitting done, architecturals done and bought the land quickly. It’s a high profile location. We were surprised [that the name was available]. We were running through the legal names and the name was available, so we took it.”
The project, located on the ocean between 1st and 2nd avenues is slated for 17 units, three on each of the five first floors and then two penthouses on the top floor. It will have a heated pool and two reserved parking spaces for each unit.
Realtors Judy Taylor DeBow and Geri Price are the sales managers and listing agents for the property. They both came from Richard R. Dostie, a Toll Brothers Company, to market this new project.
Rink, Reynolds Diamond and Fisher Architects designed the building and Elkins Constructors should start construction later this year with a completion date about 15-17 months after it starts.
“It’s unique for its terraces,” said Price. “They have retractable window systems that you can heat and cool. You can use that room as a room or a terrace.”
The units will from the high $800,000’s to $2.2 million.
DeBow and Price are pre-selling the units from their preview center at 212 First Street South in Jacksonville Beach.
Though their building is over the newly-enacted 35-foot height restriction in Jacksonville Beach, they will not be affected by it since they already have their building permit.
Scheiner and his partners at Intergroup spent many years developing multifamily units and specializing in student housing projects nationwide before they decided to settle down, create Trident Realty Corp. in 2003 and develop only in Northeast Florida.
“We had been developing multi-family and student housing nationwide since 1994,” said Scheiner. “We wanted to stay local and we were tired of traveling. We were looking for something else locally since the market is so great right now. I was in charge of the property management and my partners were in the development and financing end of it, so it is a good mix and a good team.”
Trident Realty Corp’s first project was The Villas of Augustine Island at Palencia.
“We have 40 individual villa town homes there that are very unique,” said Scheiner. “We just started selling there and have sold four already. The first six units are coming out of the ground and the next six will start in the next two months. We plan to stay in Northeast Florida and continue find niche development opportunities. We are looking for niche’s and opportunities in markets that are not looked at by other builders to create attractive unique living environments.”