Village of Imagine developer reconsiders plans for complex

The Village of Imagine has fallen victim to the local and nationwide housing slump.

[Oliver]

More Greed . . . Speculation . . . and now vacant partially built Crap. Too bad they couldn't see this coming before they cleared all the land - and bull dozed some of the last remaining pristine natural landscape in the area. At least it would have kept the dust and sand from constantly blowing across the roadway . . .

[duh]

hear hear! what a waste of trees and ecosystem. welcome to Florida. bulldoze the land, promise to build, bail out, then leave. All we're left with is flatland. Thanks DEVELOPERS! You've made Florida what it is today. <roll eyes>

[What the]

What the article skirts the issue on, is; you can't get a construction loan for a condo or condo-hotel (which the State doesn't even legally recognize). Lenders are only considering loans for timeshares, straight hotels and retail projects.

[What the]

I agree. As an architect, the problem we've had the past five years are there are too many incapable developers out there. People that have money to invest, many of which are lawyers, that don't have a clue as to what it takes to even get a large project approved though all of the local municipalities. Then, even if their project did get approved; the have no clue as to what it takes to get it built, on schedule and on time. Then the market tanked, and now you're left with large tracts of land, that are dust bowls. These half-baked developers have no clue what it takes to do construction projects and viable master planning. They have money to burn and think they know what they're doing; but they don't. Their pockets aren't deep enough, like the Westin's, the Hilton's, etc. that just write checks to get projects done. Now, individuals that invested in these half-baked developments, are left in the dust like their pieces of undeveloped land.

duh wrote:

hear hear! what a waste of trees and ecosystem. welcome to Florida. bulldoze the land, promise to build, bail out, then leave. All we're left with is flatland. Thanks DEVELOPERS! You've made Florida what it is today. <roll eyes>

[crooked developers]

Developers get away with everything. You believe the gloss, the sales people and then you find you have been ripped off by the developer. This westin is small, with nothing around it.

[zippy zip zizp zip]

SUCKERS!!

[what-once-was]

Been down the Naples lately? They have about 4 of these denuded moonscapes that were scraped away ,and now sit idle...never to be built. What a huge waste of energy resources natural beauty..."Greed is good " I mean God...
what a tremendous waste of God's beauty. Good job Florida bulldoze the whole state flat nad build some generic strip malls ,and condos...Oh wait too late. Live in the hell you created.

[what-once-was]

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news...

we as a country are so up a creek due to wanton greed and stupidity. Think you were responsible? You will feel the pain also due to their stupidity..Falling dollar, Higher inflation...This is just the beginning ! The fools are calling a bottom after 3 months ago saying we wern't going down....to laugh.

[No Guarantees]

There are no "guarantees" in life. Inrawest has been very successul in the "village" concept in many different locations. They had no control over the current state of the economy, no way of anticipating the bad economic conditions we are now ALL experiencing.Would it be better to further develop the land and have the proprietors of the "village" shops not be able to sustain themselves in this current state of the economy? I think not! Intrawest is not stating that the village will NOT happen when the economy picks up and no I am not a lawyer or a developer, just a private citizen. Oh and by the way, those developers build establishments for our visitors to stay which brings money into the local economy. That's how I pay my bills! Guess we can lose the large conventions to Vegas which will put a lot of people out of work. How's that for affecting the LOCAL economy?Obviously you just do not get the "BIG" picture.

[Lenders are the problem]

The lenders are just not willing to qualify people to close on real estate of any kind. People that pre-qualified in 2005 and 2006 no longer meet the qualifying criteria and in many cases have suffered losses in other real estate or financial endeavors. There was a lot of greedy people out there that were trying to make a quick buck (which you can't blame anyone for) but there is a risk in every investment that you make and you have to realize that that comes with certains risks. I agree with "no guarantees".

[duh]

No Guarantees wrote:

There are no "guarantees" in life. Inrawest has been very successul in the "village" concept in many different locations. They had no control over the current state of the economy, no way of anticipating the bad economic conditions we are now ALL experiencing.Would it be better to further develop the land and have the proprietors of the "village" shops not be able to sustain themselves in this current state of the economy? I think not! Intrawest is not stating that the village will NOT happen when the economy picks up and no I am not a lawyer or a developer, just a private citizen. Oh and by the way, those developers build establishments for our visitors to stay which brings money into the local economy. That's how I pay my bills! Guess we can lose the large conventions to Vegas which will put a lot of people out of work. How's that for affecting the LOCAL economy?Obviously you just do not get the "BIG" picture.

whatever. spare us the doom & gloom. i'm for smart development. not clearing away acres of forested land then leaving what's left to blow away in the wind. i think YOU have failed to see the "big picture".

[Interested Observer]

Well, at least they have the picturesque retention ponds. And, of course, they don't have to contend with unruly neighbors.

And even though I would never consider paying $500,000 for a part time hotel suite, everybody must make their own decision.

And, yes, if you look closely at the picture, you can see the dust storms off in the distance. Must be good for the carwash business.

[John]

No Guarantees wrote:

There are no "guarantees" in life. Inrawest has been very successul in the "village" concept in many different locations. They had no control over the current state of the economy, no way of anticipating the bad economic conditions we are now ALL experiencing.Would it be better to further develop the land and have the proprietors of the "village" shops not be able to sustain themselves in this current state of the economy? I think not! Intrawest is not stating that the village will NOT happen when the economy picks up and no I am not a lawyer or a developer, just a private citizen. Oh and by the way, those developers build establishments for our visitors to stay which brings money into the local economy. That's how I pay my bills! Guess we can lose the large conventions to Vegas which will put a lot of people out of work. How's that for affecting the LOCAL economy?Obviously you just do not get the "BIG" picture.

Intrawest did the same thing in New jersey and that's why they are involved in a class action lawsuit brought on by owners who were sold a village and hype that was never delivered. The lawsuit was found to have merit and has proceeded to court...despite the fact that the developer protected itself with all kinds of language. I hope the developer goes bankrupt.

[Interested Observer]

This is a major problem with all the condo developments, the timeshares, and the fractional hotel suites developments. When you buy, you are putting yourself at the mercy of all the other buyers or would-be buyers as well as the solvency and character of the developer. And for the most part - THESE ARE ALL PEOPLE YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT!!!

Look at the Miami condos - most 'owners' aren't paying their condo fees; the few that live their and are paying find the property grossly unfunded, and maintenance and repairs left undone. Some of the places are starting to look real seedy.

[dum-dum]

Intrawest promised the world but deliver nothing. They built a model in the Sale office that show the village concept including sidewalk cafe, shops, restaurants, theater, and more. They show people movie how the project will look like after the build out. Can a developer get away by doing this? As of June 2008, they only have few investors closed on the property. What will they do with the rest of the units? Auction is coming an price will be CHEAP. This company will go bankrupt!!!