by Fred Seely, Editor
A principal in one of the largest financial institution acquisitions of all time will soon own two major Northeast Florida communities.
Randy Frankel, whose Wall Street company was bought by powerhouse Goldman Sachs for a reported $6.3 billion, has purchased North Hampton and is in the process of buying Palencia.
Both are gated golf course communities. North Hampton, with a course designed by Arnold Palmer, is just west of Fernandina Beach, and Palencia, with an Arthur Hills-designed course, is just north of St. Augustine.
Frankel has been a private investor and benefactor since his New York City firm, Speer, Leeds & Kellogg, made the huge deal with Goldman Sachs in 2000. He now owns a ski resort in New York’s Catskill Mountains, a prestigious lodge in New Jersey, and is part of the Tampa Bay Rays baseball team ownership.
The North Hampton seller was Crescent Communitites of North Carolina and the golf course has been managed by Hampton Golf, which has a tie to Frankel. The development opened in 2001.
The Atlanta-based Hines is the seller at Palencia, which opened in 2002. Local developer Hawley Smith was the lead developer and has remained in a leadership role after bringing in Hines.
Both feature high-end homes with several at Palencia going into seven figures. Many North Hamton homes are in the $400-500,000 range. Frankel is a New Jersey resident who graduated from Hofstra University in 1979 and became a CPA, working with Peat Marwick. He moved to Speer Leeds as its tax director in 1986 and moved up the corporate ladder to senior management prior to the sale.
He has been rumored as a potential purchaser of the financially-insecure New York Mets baseball team.
Frankel has ties with the men who ran the LandMar company here before the real estate slowdown.
Ed Burr and Roger Postlethwaite are now running GreenPointe Homes, which is a primary builder on a central Florida development that Frankel owns, and Hampton Golf’s M.G. Orender is expected to manage the courses here.
The North Hampton sale is complete and improvements to the property, including the golf course, are already under way. The Palencia closing is expected before the first of the year.