Entries Tagged 'Real estate' ↓

While Baldwin County officials have reduced property tax appraisal values by at least $193 million so far, owners who didn’t appeal their valuations may receive an unexpected refund.

As of March 18, the Baldwin County Board of Equalization reduced 82 percent of the parcels that came before it by a total of $193 million, according to state and county figures.

The information was released at a Monday meeting in which state Department of Revenue officials updated local elected leaders on the process to address nearly 22,000 appeals to property tax appraisals in Baldwin.

Tax values cut by $193M

On paper, it appears a simple request: rezone a little more than 100 acres in order to construct a subdivision. With approval, the developers could build the 2.2 units per acre they want, which is slightly more than the two units currently allowed. But the plans for Churchill’s second phase have played out more like a dispute for the courts than a zoning application before the City Council.

A crowd of homeowners in the first phase of the Churchill subdivision had made continuous objections, fearing their property values would decline. They said they were guaranteed that the second phase would be low density, but that the developers weren’t following through with the promise.

Bonner said he expects that a vote is almost certain at the City Council’s March 17 meeting.

Spanish Fort postpones Churchill 2 vote again

With six members present at Thursday’s planning commission meeting, every vote counted. A preliminary plat review for a west Daphne subdivision needed six votes to pass but public concerns about flooding and maintenance apparently affected the ultimately negative vote.

The preliminary plat review for Paradiso subdivision — a 12-acre plot located between Main Street and Mobile Bay, adjacent to Jackson Oak Drive — failed 5-1. Planning Commissioner Cathy Barnette cast the lone dissenting vote; Commissioners DeLeon Thomas and Fred Small were absent.

Paradiso developers had proposed a water treatment system for the 17-lot neighborhood that would filter 90 percent of sediment from storm water before it could enter Mobile Bay. Though the system would be the primary drainage tool though construction, retention ponds also would be used.

Paradiso subdivision gets ‘no’

The number of homes sold in 2007 fell by 18.5% from 2006, but the average sales price rose from $289,935 in 2006 to $292,091. In 2006, 1,309 homes sold compared with 1,092 in 2007.

The average time it took to sell a home was 144 days, but this stat was skewed by homes that were re-listed after having been on the market for as long as 6 months.

Click through for more details about Spanish Fort, Fairhope and Daphne.

Home sales down, but prices held in 2007 on Eastern Shore of Mobile Bay

• The Church Of His Presence purchased a new, 4,800-square-foot office building at 9789 Timber Creek Circle in Daphne for $700,000, according to Mitchum Jack son of Heggeman Realty , who represented the seller. The building is across from the Eastern Shore Centre.
• An investor paid $650,000 for 2.8 acres on U.S. 31 in Spanish Fort, one mile west of Alabama 181, and plans to build a retail tire store there
• Snap Fitness , a club that is open 24 hours, seven days a week, has leased 6,000 square feet in Spanish Fort Plaza on U.S. 90 and U.S. 31 in Spanish Fort, and plans to open in March
• SunTrust Mortgage has leased a 2,212-square-foot space at The Wharf on the Intracoastal Waterway in Orange Beach
• Two stores will open at The Wharf in April: Lucca, a women’s clothing boutique, and Frick and Frack , featuring caricature drawing

Real estate briefs

• Family Security Credit Union paid $1.03 million for 1.36 acres on U.S. 98 next to the former Ruby Tuesday Restaurant in Daphne
• The developers of the 38-unit Mustique condominium building on Little Lagoon in West Beach in Gulf Shores sold their remaining 13 units for about $7.8 million to out-of-town investors, according to court records. The 21-story tower was developed by The Head Cos. , based in Point Clear. More than half of the units presold for $1 million and up in late 2004.
• The 240-acre Baldwin State Forest off U.S. 90 near Elsanor, and the 80-acre Crawford Forest off U.S. 90 south of Grand Bay, will be sold by the Alabama Forest ry Commission in the near future, according to John Pirtle , forest management director. The land is not used for public hunting and will be sold via sealed bid or public auction, he said.
• The owners of the pink, seven-story, former Las Bris as on the Bay hotel on the Causeway in Spanish Fort are gutting the building to determine if they want to keep the concrete structure or tear it down, according to broker John Foley , one of the owners. The hotel was damaged during Hurricane Katrina in August 2005.

Real Estate Briefs

The project’s fenced-off, 11-acre site is as undisturbed as it was in 2005, when Daphne officials rewrote the city’s zoning rules in response to plans for the 192-foot-tall condominium tower called Apalachee.

The lack of activity along with a “for sale” sign by the U.S. 98 property have given some passers-by the impression that the venture to build the Eastern Shore’s first bayfront high-rise was done for.

But Daphne planning officials last week granted Apalachee project backer Barry Booth a second extension of the project’s site-disturbance permit. Booth explained that he hopes construction on the proposed 80-unit tower will begin sometime in late 2008.

Daphne high-rise is still planned

• Construction should start in early February on Hall’s Motorsports’ 30,000-square-foot Malbis Yamaha Suzuki store at Renaissance Center on U.S. 90 and Interstate 10 in Daphne, according to Haran Hunter of J. Barrons LLC . The owners paid $976,000 for the 3-acre site, he said.
• Three tenants have opened in leased space at Jubilee Pointe Shopping Center on U.S. 98 in Daphne: Mardi Gras Madness , 3,220 square feet; Frosty Dog , featuring soft-serve ice cream and hot dogs, 1,800 square feet; and MV Motorsports , a 1,600-square-foot store offering all-terrain vehicles and scooters. Jean Lankford of J.A. Lankford & Co. , represented the landlord.
• Construction is under way on Guy Harvey’s Island Grill , Harvey’s clothing and gift store and his art gallery at The Wharf , a mixed-use development on the Intracoastal Waterway in Orange Beach, according to Pete McFarland , a business partner of Harvey’s. All three should open in April, along with Harvey’s outdoor bar onboard a 45-foot boat docked on the waterway, he said. Harvey is a marine-biologist-turned-wildlife artist, diver and photographer.

Real Estate Briefs

Lawsuits claiming that the state Department of Revenue inflates property tax values by excluding foreclosure sales when establishing market values have been filed in Baldwin, Mobile and at least five other counties, according to an attorney in the case and court documents.

“We contend that the Revenue Department at the state level has ordered the local equalization people, in assessing the value of property, to not take into consideration the sale price of properties that were foreclosed on and resold,” said Birmingham attorney Bill Baxley, a former lieutenant governor who represents different plaintiffs in each county.

The lawsuits ask county circuit courts to grant the case class-action status to include all tax-paying landowners in the respective counties. The claim also asks the court to order revenue officials to use the foreclosure sales when establishing market value, to reassess property values and to refund excessive taxes. It further asks the court to stop officials from collecting property taxes under the current method.

In the Baldwin claim the plaintiffs include property owners Lucy Baxley, the former Democratic nominee for governor, and her husband, James L. Smith.

Property tax lawsuits filed across the state

The largest lender in the $100 million financing package for 15.8 acres of prime beachfront in Orange Beach has foreclosed on the loan — another blow to developers of the now-defunct Mandalay Beach condominium project.

Oxford Investments LLC, which is headed by Jim Mattei, the Mobile native who co-founded the Checkers burger chain, foreclosed on a tract in the middle of the property Jan. 4, court records show.

Orange Beach Development Facing Problems

The largest lender in the $100 million financing package for 15.8 acres of prime beachfront in Orange Beach has foreclosed on the loan — another blow to developers of the now-defunct Mandalay Beach condominium project.

Oxford Investments LLC, which is headed by Jim Mattei, the Mobile native who co-founded the Checkers burger chain, foreclosed on a tract in the middle of the property Jan. 4, court records show.

Orange Beach Development Facing Problems

• Birmingham investors paid $2.25 million for Fountains Plaza , a 17,600-square-foot shopping center on Alabama 59 in Foley, according to Da vid Milstead of Cunningham, Foley & Barnes , who represented the seller. Daylight Donuts , which has a store in Gulf Shores, plans to open in the retail center this week, he said.
• Lenny’s Sub Shop has leased 1,875 square feet in Gallery Fifty Nine at 2054 S. McKenzie St. in Foley and will open in early February, according to Bill Hyatt of LanDel Realty .

Real Estate Briefs

Year end real estate prices and data for:

• Fairhope
• Daphne
• Spanish Fort