From the Daily Record
One of Northeast Florida’s biggest eyesores may soon blossom as developers of the unfinished condominiums along Goodby’s Lake in Jacksonville’s Baymeadows area have filed plans to restart the project.
The multi-building complex has sat half-finished since 2009 when the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. took it over and later sold it to the Prospect Property Group.
The name is referred to as The Cove at St. Johns on plans.
Frank Tetel, vice president of the Prospect Property Group, declined to provide the timetable or pricing of the project, but said a sales team should be on-site soon and all the information will be provided.
Tetel said the four Cove at St. Johns structures are in good shape and Prospect is proceeding with the initial plans.
Prospect Cove Development LLC of Longwood filed building plans with the city for two of the four buildings.
The first two permits show a $3.1 million renovation cost for two six-story buildings, one with 18 units and the other with 20 units. The address for what the plans call “a proposed residential apartment development” is 3958 Baymeadows Road.
Bradenton Cove Construction LLC of Longwood is the contractor and Wakefield Beasley & Associates of Ponte Vedra Beach is the architect.
Plans show The Cove at St. Johns comprises a six-story, 18-unit building; a six-story, 20-unit building; a four-story, 18-unit building; and a 30-unit, six-story building. There also is a pool, cabana and summer kitchen and below-building parking. The property is 2.8 acres.
Prospect Cove Development LLC, housed at Prospect Property Group, took over the unfinished Goodby’s Lake condominiums at Baymeadows and San Jose boulevards in a $2.5 million deal.
The FDIC took over the property in 2009 and sold it to Prospect Cove Development, which is headed by Mark Filburn.
Tetel said the project is zoned for up to 86 units.
“It will be very nicely done,” Tetel said.
He said Prospect develops throughout the Southeast and has been interested in the project “for a long time.”
Prospect’s stated focus is “fractured condominiums, multifamily developments, unfinished new construction, and land in prime urban and resort locations throughout Florida.”
A fractured condo project is one in which some units were sold but most were unsold. Visit prospectproperties.com for more information.
The website shows that Prospect’s Northeast Florida area projects include the Reserve at Water’s Inlet, a 205-unit apartment project it bought and redeveloped in 2011, and Ocean Grove at Ponte Vedra, a 252-unit condo it bought in 2004.
According to the website, the company was created in 1994 to capitalize on distressed office and retail property during the 1990s downturn, buying more than 1 million square feet of commercial property from lenders and the FDIC “at a fraction of the replacement cost.”
The management comprises Filburn and Alex Walker.
In 2002, Prospect “acted early on opportunities in apartment-to-condo conversions, investing over $350 million in residential acquisitions and converting nearly 2,000 units to condominium ownership,” and yielded a 48 percent return to investors on projects completed to date, it said.
The site says the firm “wisely halted acquisition activity in mid-2005 as apartment cap rates were descending below economic viability due to ‘irrational exuberance’ in condo valuations.”
It continues: “Prospect is proud to sustain a distinguished 16-year track record with superior returns and zero failed developments.”