The ghost town-like Florida Furniture Mart at Okeechobee Road and Interstate 95 never became the shopping destination its owners envisioned.
But a Coral Springs-based developer sees retail gold in the outdated Fort Pierce mall, which is also near the turnpike – and it’s assembling offers to buy the property and dozens of acres surrounding it.
More business new
Tulepan Management LLC plans to acquire about 80 acres, including 18 the furniture mart sits on, to build 800,000 square feet of big-box stores and other shopping, said Craig Tulepan, director of operations.
The first deal to close will be the mart itself, probably around June, and the other parcels are slated to follow during the next three years. No details yet on what Tulepan is paying for each, but the total investment is expected to be about $110 million.
Tulepan is launching three other big retail centers in Fort Pierce: the $24 million, 165,000-square-foot Coral Square Shoppes on U.S. 1 north of Edwards Road, where vertical construction is slated to start this fall; a 300,000-square-foot “lifestyle center” with a movie theater at Orange Avenue and Hartman Road; and a 19-acre grocery-anchored plaza across from the Orange Avenue lifestyle center.
“A lot of developers are now getting Fort Pierce on their radar,” he said. “I believe that three years from now, you will not recognize that market.”
•
It’s the kind of lawsuit you might not have seen when the real estate market was flying high:
Sailfish Point couple vs. a brand-new Jensen Beach condo community that doesn’t look as hot in real life as it did on paper – at least, not to the buyers.
A few years ago, the couple probably would have flipped the $710,000 waterfront condo for a profit. Now, Herbert and Julia Zack just want their $142,000 deposit back for the 1,800-square-foot end unit at Renar River Place.
The couple last week sued developer Renar River Place LLC, claiming it misrepresented the perks planned for the community at the western foot of the Jensen Beach Causeway. When the Zacks put the money down in 2012, they were expecting restaurants, a parking garage and a theater.
Those things are still on the books – but Renar bought more time on them last month when the Martin County Commission agreed to extend the construction deadline to 2017.
Across South Florida’s cooling market, lawsuits are becoming more common as buyers try to wriggle out of contracts, said Jack McCabe of McCabe Research and Consulting in Deerfield Beach.
Some developers are even suing buyers who try to break the deals, citing a “specific performance” requirement to close.
“We’re starting to see the ugly side of this now,” McCabe said.
For its part, Jensen Beach-based Renar Fine Homes – the parent company of Renar River Place – plans to fight the suit.
“The allegations contained in the Zack lawsuit are unfounded, as there have been no misrepresentations by Renar,” Chairwoman Renee Doss said.
Julia Zack declined comment.
The take from McCabe, who’s not involved in the suit:
“I would say, in this case, it sounds kind of like they’re reaching somewhat – but nevertheless, you’re buying a $700,000 unit, and you expect the developer’s going to finish it the way he said he was.”
