Owners of the property in North Hillsborough County defaulted on a land loan. The savings and loan that held the loan on its books became part of the Resolution Trust Corporation/FDIC. This site, although deemed “green” at the time of acquisition, was part of the transportation development plans for the Veterans Expressway in Tampa, Florida, making travel to and from the two core business districts, West Shore Business District and the Central Business District in downtown Tampa, readily accessible for residents of this to-be-built community
The property was acquired at a deep discount from the RTC/FDIC. Within months, the property went through the subdivision process and was sold to large national and regional home builders, a national multi-family apartment complex developer and a retail developer.
The equity invested in this transaction was returned to the investment group within twelve months. Although this property appeared too large for any regional development groups to take down, by being aware of the five year TIP plans (Transportation Improvement Program), and by working with home builders, the decision to acquire the entire subdivision was made, resulting in almost immediate profits. Another unique difficulty with this site was the existence of numerous legal issues remaining from the previous owner that related to expired permits and the land development approval process, including substantial deviations to the Development of Regional Impact (“DRI”) granted by the State of Florida for the Calusa Trace development. The extraordinary returns were due to members of the management team having knowledge of the development process