by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
Mori Hosseini has been in the development business for a quarter century. During those 25 years, he has seen everything from boom times to an industry at a near standstill to today’s skyrocketing market that seems to have no ceiling.
He’s also been incredibly successful over the years. His company, ICI Homes, just celebrated its 25th anniversary over the weekend.
As chairman and CEO of ICI Homes, Hosseini has seen his Daytona Beach-based company grow in ways he never imagined. Like others, he also never imagined that real estate in Florida would take off the way it has, especially the past decade.
“Flagler County is the fastest growing county in the country,” said Hosseini. “Five years ago, you could have bought a lot in Flagler for $5,000 to $10,000. Today, that lot is now $75,000 or more. I have never seen a market change so quickly.”
Things have changed in his county, too.
“In Volusia, there are areas that I thought wouldn’t be developed for 50 years that are seeing development today,” said Hosseini, whose company has offices in Orlando, Tampa, Melbourne and in Jacksonville on Belfort Road.
ICI has also made a presence in Northeast Florida. A model home in Magnolia Preserve in Julington Creek is now open and residential development has begun at Amelia National, a Tom Fazio-designed golf course just west of Fernandina Beach with 750 lots.
In spite of all his success, Hosseini is a friendly, humble guy, almost jovial. He enjoys golf, belongs to the Plantation Country Club in Ponte Vedra and gets to Jacksonville every couple of weeks.
He also seems genuinely interested in assuring the current real estate boom doesn’t alienate some of the most important sectors of society. He understands fully that one of the main reasons that real estate values have gone through the roof the past five years is due to people from other parts of the country moving into the area, realizing what they can get for their money and overpaying for homes.
“People from major cities like New York, Chicago and Philadelphia are selling their homes up there for $1 million to $1.5 million and coming down here and buying a bigger home for $300,000 to $500,000,” explained Hosseini, adding that overpaying for homes affects the entire neighborhood. “That’s what they are all forgetting. They want you to leave. That’s why they will come in and pay more than the house is worth.”
Hosseini recently took concerns to the Volusia County Commission about impact fees and working together to hold down the costs of new homes. Hosseini’s worried that the very people that help create the quality of life that people move here for — teachers, firemen, police and others — are being priced out of the market.
“I went to the commission and asked, ‘What about the firefighters, police and teachers?’ It’s getting tougher and tougher for them to find somewhere to live. The availability of affordable housing is dropping two percent
a year.”
Hosseini is also worried that the housing market in the United States will begin to resemble Europe’s where, according to Hosseini, only about 20 percent of the people can afford to own, whereas that number is 60 percent here today. If developers keep building 700-unit mini-cities with $350,000 base-price homes, fewer long-time residents will be able to buy. In addition to working with local governments to hold down fees, ICI Homes is building more affordable homes.
“We are building multi-family homes, townhomes and condominiums with schools. The homes have less square footage, but they are more affordable,” said Hosseini. “We are getting with the municipalities are telling them we are willing to make less of a profit if they will give up some of the impact fees. The average home price in Jacksonville is about $530,000 and we are building homes in the lower $200,000s. That’s a huge difference.”