Four Corners - Dream or Disaster?
By Kim Shuskey
Imagine living in a resort so luxurious that it seems as if it can only be a dream. Imagine your home being a resort with a 100,000 square foot clubhouse. A place where your children can grow up playing in Florida’s largest water resort complete with a lazy river, wave pool, and among other things a three-story children’s water park. Imagine living on a resort that offered a full service spa and salon, a state of the art fitness center, ample meeting and wedding banquet facilities, multiple themed restaurants and lounges plus a 28,000 square foot poolside sports bar featuring multiple TV monitors with satellite feed for worldwide sporting events. These are just the beginnings of our imaginary dream home.
Tierra del Sol was supposed to be that dream land with so much more to offer than the few amenities listed above. It was supposed to be the American Leisure Holdings Inc. flagship resort property near Walt Disney World off of US 27.
In January, 2005 American Leisure Holdings signed a 20 year contract with Sonesta to operate qualifying units in Tierra del Sol. Sonesta has owed, managed, designed, built and marketed hotels in the United States among other countries. The company has an excellent reputation in the hospitality management market.
Imagine viewing the property, examining the floor plans and picking your dream vacation home. Now imagine putting down a sizable amount of your life savings for a deposit. Your home is going to cost over $300,000 and you put down at least ten percent of that. Now imagine it gone.
Tierra del Sol reportedly doubled the size of the water park and upgraded amenities causing a delay in construction. The company reports to have sent the buyers letters explaining the situation and offering to either terminate the contracts for a refund or signing new contracts extending deadlines.
Unfortunately, it is now summer of 2008 and only a few homes are slowly being built on the 121 acre site that was supposed to have 972 condos and homes. The American Dream has turned into the Florida nightmare for many. It is now said that Tierra del Sol will open in early 2009.
As a result of American Leisure Real Estate Group not building the homes and condos within the two years it agreed to, according to court records, Tierra del Sol is being sued by at least four buyers. These suits were filed in Orange and Polk counties. The company states that 40 condos will be ready to move into soon with another 32 per month being completed soon after.
This is not the only trouble for American Leisure Holdings. American Leisure saw an opportunity to get new sales when Platinum Properties filed bankruptcy in September. This “opportunity” from American Leisure was thought to be a light at the end of the tunnel for Platinum home buyers. The company has recently backed down from an offer to help homebuyers who gave Platinum Properties over $24 million in deposits.
With Platinum, not one home in the Winslow Estates (directly across form Tierra del Sol) in Polk County or the Millbrook Manor and Citrus Highlands Phase II in south Lake County has been built. These highly sought after properties are in the four corners area on US Highway 27, an area highly favored by British investors and homebuyers. Co-Owner David N. Weiker Sr. faces charges of organized fraud and communications fraud in connection with missing deposit money from 15 of the buyers. CO owner Lawrence Maloney also faces communications fraud charges.
Polk County water restrictions, permitting issues, fire hydrant placements, and the discovery of endangered gopher tortoises on the property is what is said to have caused the delays for the Platinum Property home development.
Since American Leisure has backed away to focus on other projects another “white knight” has emerged to help the homebuyers of Four Corners, specifically Platinum Properties. Sanford based Dove Builders submitted a plan to the US Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida. The plan involves building homes for buyers who put down deposits at the 2005 contract pricing. There are additional stipulations, however this may be exactly what is needed for these investors to finally get the homes that were promised to them from Platinum Properties. Dove plans to honor the contracts of Millbrook Manor in Lake County and Winslow Estates in Polk County.
One may wonder how this can happen. It is really very simple. Many of the lots were sold in the middle of 2004 and continued during 2005. This particular time was boom time for Florida real estate and because there was a lack of inventory at the time people were rushing to buy “off plan” in order to maximize return or secure a home. Court documents that are currently available online have revealed that Platinum Properties did not fully own the land before they sold it. This is not an unusual practice in property development and many large projects would not even get started without pre-selling. What is strange to most buyers is that Platinum could sell 90% percent of Millbrook Manor and Winslow Estates, collecting nearly $24 million dollars before titles were settled.
The future it seems for Platinum Properties is all up to the United States Bankruptcy Court Middle District of Florida. Unfortunately, as of this date the only thing standing at Millbrook Manor in Lake County is a small bridge, a few parking spots and a big sign out front advertising Millbrook Manor and Platinum Properties. Everyone involved is in the “wait and see” mode. Will Dove Builders be the “white knight” everyone is hoping for, or will someone else come in to provide what Platinum Properties clearly cannot?
Return to Celebration Independent front page.
By Kim Shuskey
Imagine living in a resort so luxurious that it seems as if it can only be a dream. Imagine your home being a resort with a 100,000 square foot clubhouse. A place where your children can grow up playing in Florida’s largest water resort complete with a lazy river, wave pool, and among other things a three-story children’s water park. Imagine living on a resort that offered a full service spa and salon, a state of the art fitness center, ample meeting and wedding banquet facilities, multiple themed restaurants and lounges plus a 28,000 square foot poolside sports bar featuring multiple TV monitors with satellite feed for worldwide sporting events. These are just the beginnings of our imaginary dream home.
Tierra del Sol was supposed to be that dream land with so much more to offer than the few amenities listed above. It was supposed to be the American Leisure Holdings Inc. flagship resort property near Walt Disney World off of US 27.
In January, 2005 American Leisure Holdings signed a 20 year contract with Sonesta to operate qualifying units in Tierra del Sol. Sonesta has owed, managed, designed, built and marketed hotels in the United States among other countries. The company has an excellent reputation in the hospitality management market.
Imagine viewing the property, examining the floor plans and picking your dream vacation home. Now imagine putting down a sizable amount of your life savings for a deposit. Your home is going to cost over $300,000 and you put down at least ten percent of that. Now imagine it gone.
Tierra del Sol reportedly doubled the size of the water park and upgraded amenities causing a delay in construction. The company reports to have sent the buyers letters explaining the situation and offering to either terminate the contracts for a refund or signing new contracts extending deadlines.
Unfortunately, it is now summer of 2008 and only a few homes are slowly being built on the 121 acre site that was supposed to have 972 condos and homes. The American Dream has turned into the Florida nightmare for many. It is now said that Tierra del Sol will open in early 2009.
As a result of American Leisure Real Estate Group not building the homes and condos within the two years it agreed to, according to court records, Tierra del Sol is being sued by at least four buyers. These suits were filed in Orange and Polk counties. The company states that 40 condos will be ready to move into soon with another 32 per month being completed soon after.
This is not the only trouble for American Leisure Holdings. American Leisure saw an opportunity to get new sales when Platinum Properties filed bankruptcy in September. This “opportunity” from American Leisure was thought to be a light at the end of the tunnel for Platinum home buyers. The company has recently backed down from an offer to help homebuyers who gave Platinum Properties over $24 million in deposits.
With Platinum, not one home in the Winslow Estates (directly across form Tierra del Sol) in Polk County or the Millbrook Manor and Citrus Highlands Phase II in south Lake County has been built. These highly sought after properties are in the four corners area on US Highway 27, an area highly favored by British investors and homebuyers. Co-Owner David N. Weiker Sr. faces charges of organized fraud and communications fraud in connection with missing deposit money from 15 of the buyers. CO owner Lawrence Maloney also faces communications fraud charges.
Polk County water restrictions, permitting issues, fire hydrant placements, and the discovery of endangered gopher tortoises on the property is what is said to have caused the delays for the Platinum Property home development.
Since American Leisure has backed away to focus on other projects another “white knight” has emerged to help the homebuyers of Four Corners, specifically Platinum Properties. Sanford based Dove Builders submitted a plan to the US Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida. The plan involves building homes for buyers who put down deposits at the 2005 contract pricing. There are additional stipulations, however this may be exactly what is needed for these investors to finally get the homes that were promised to them from Platinum Properties. Dove plans to honor the contracts of Millbrook Manor in Lake County and Winslow Estates in Polk County.
One may wonder how this can happen. It is really very simple. Many of the lots were sold in the middle of 2004 and continued during 2005. This particular time was boom time for Florida real estate and because there was a lack of inventory at the time people were rushing to buy “off plan” in order to maximize return or secure a home. Court documents that are currently available online have revealed that Platinum Properties did not fully own the land before they sold it. This is not an unusual practice in property development and many large projects would not even get started without pre-selling. What is strange to most buyers is that Platinum could sell 90% percent of Millbrook Manor and Winslow Estates, collecting nearly $24 million dollars before titles were settled.
The future it seems for Platinum Properties is all up to the United States Bankruptcy Court Middle District of Florida. Unfortunately, as of this date the only thing standing at Millbrook Manor in Lake County is a small bridge, a few parking spots and a big sign out front advertising Millbrook Manor and Platinum Properties. Everyone involved is in the “wait and see” mode. Will Dove Builders be the “white knight” everyone is hoping for, or will someone else come in to provide what Platinum Properties clearly cannot?
Return to Celebration Independent front page.
Kim Shuskey/Celebration Independent
Millbrook sign advertising Millbrook Manor and Platinum Properties.
