Former Hollywood Fashion Center demolished for Wal-Mart

April 3, 2014

Demolition of the long-vacant Millennium Mall in Hollywood is underway, paving the way for a new Walmart Supercenter slated to open in 2015.

 

About 80,000 cars travel daily past a growing pile of rubble that holds hope for reviving a desolate section of Hollywood.
The debris used to be the Hollywood Fashion Center, one of Florida's first indoor malls when it opened in 1972 at Hollywood Boulevard and U.S. 441. Most recently, it was The Millennium Hollywood's City Place, an indoor flea market. The property has been vacant for nearly a decade.
Now, Dacar Management, a real estate company based in Dania Beach, is demolishing the landmark mall to make way for a Wal-Mart Supercenter. Wal-Mart, along with TD Bank, Pollo Tropical and Taco Bell, all have agreed to move to the corner partly occupied by a GFS Marketplace.

    

"For us this is a major redevelopment," said Davon Barbour, director of Hollywood's Department of Community and Economic Development. The vacant mall "has been an eyesore, a plague to the community."

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It wasn't always that way.

Hollywood Fashion Center once was a bustling shopping destination and one of the city's largest employers, anchored by retailers such as JCPenney and Burdines. But the mall closed after 21 years when its major tenants packed up to go six miles west to a more attractive, just-built shopping center: Pembroke Lakes Mall.
The flea market was the property's "last hurrah," Barbour said. It closed in 2005 for lack of vendors.
Wal-Mart's arrival heralds a rebirth for an important corridor leading to the heart of Hollywood and the beach, Barbour said. The retailer will bring about 300 jobs and generate an unspecified amount of tax revenue for the city.
Barbour also believes Wal-Mart's presence will bring more businesses.
"It's important to have a global retailer move into our community," Barbour said. "It signals confidence in the marketplace and attracts other national tenants."
The 180,000-square-foot Wal-Mart Supercenter and pharmacy will sell groceries, clothes, household items and other general merchandise. Wal-Mart will occupy about half of what will be called "The Place at Hollywood." Other parcels will be built for surrounding stores and restaurants.
Dacar Management bought the property about four years ago for $15.8 million, said Alberto Micha, a firm representative.
"Wal-Mart will bring a lot of life into the area," Micha said, adding that at least 165,000 people live within three miles of the development. "We're sure that this will not only be a good investment but a good service to the community. We'll change the face of that area."
Dacar owns several other retail centers in South Florida, including a shopping center on U.S. 441 across the street from the Wal-Mart site. Micha said Dacar also plans to upgrade that plaza.
Mercedes Ramos, 77, rides the bus for about five minutes to get to a thrift store across the street from the new development. She's happy she will soon have a Wal-Mart nearby as an option. Every now and then, the Hollywood resident takes the bus to a Wal-Mart in Hallandale Beach.
"I hope it lasts," Ramos said of the upcoming shopping center.
The owner of a subs restaurant on Hollywood Boulevard also hopes the new development is successful.
"Look at it now," said Don Drybread, owner of Sub Center, pointing to demolition debris across the street. "It's empty, terrible, ugly. People don't want an area that's depressed. They want an area that's happening.
"Hopefully this will give me exposure, no one wants to be on a block where you are the only business."

By Miriam Valverde, Sun Sentinel

Copyright © 2014, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Realtors® Oppose Tax Plan to Limit Mortgage Interest Deduction, Real Estate Provisions

WASHINGTON (February 26, 2014) –
The following is a statement by National Association of Realtors® President Steve Brown:

“NAR supports reforms that promote economic growth, but we strongly oppose severely altering the rules that govern ownership and investment in real estate. Real estate powers almost one-fifth of the U.S. economy, employs more than 17 million Americans, and contributes a quarter of all federal and state tax revenue and as much as 70 percent of local taxes.
“We are extremely disappointed with several of the provisions contained in U.S. House Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp’s tax reform draft released today, namely proposed limits on the mortgage interest deduction and capital gains, and the repeal of deductions for state and local property taxes. These proposed changes to the taxation of real estate will impact every single American, either directly or indirectly.
“NAR will carefully analyze the details of the Chairman’s plan so we can best educate Congress and the public about how this plan would impact the owners, consumers, and producers of both residential and commercial real estate.”

The National Association of Realtors®, “The Voice for Real Estate,” is America’s largest trade association, representing 1 million members involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries.

Broward home sales down in January

Median prices, inventory levels rise in county last month              February 21, 2014 10:30AM

In a sign that 2014 could indeed be the year when the resurgent housing market cools off, Broward County posted a decline in residential sales last month.
Single-family home sales dropped 4.3 percent in Broward to 989 in January, the Miami Herald reported, citing figures from Greater Fort Lauderdale Realtors. Condo sales fell 4.5 percent to 1,132. The median single-family sale price jumped 16 percent to $260,000, while the median condo price surged 23.8 percent to $117,500.
Greater Fort Lauderdale Realtors president Marnie Allen dismissed the sales drop-off as a “minor adjustment that is typical of previous Januarys” after homebuyers scramble to close purchases by the end of a calendar year.
An increase in for-sale inventory could slow down the pricing gains, however. Single-family inventory in Broward rose 18.3 percent in January, while condo inventory jumped 19.6 percent. [Miami Herald] — Eric Kalis

Developer: Margaritaville on time, within budget

Jimmy Buffett-themed resort set to open in July 2015      February 21, 2014 11:15AM                                              

Margaritaville rendering

The Jimmy Buffett-themed Margaritaville Hollywood Beach Resort remains on track for a July 2015 opening.
Construction of the $147 million resort on five city-owned acres at Johnson Street and A1A has progressed to the fifth floor, the Sun-Sentinel reported. Developer Lon Tabatchnick said the project is on schedule and within budget following the first six months of construction.
Plans for the 349-room resort include seven restaurants and bars, oceanside pools, a wave ride and 35,000 square feet of convention facilities.
Some neighbors, including the adjacent Beach Market store, have complained about a loss of customers since Margaritaville construction began. The Johnson Street parking garage was closed before the project’s groundbreaking, which eliminated 700 spaces frequently used by Hollywood Beach visitors. [Sun-Sentinel] — Eric Kalis

Condo at Jade Ocean asking $4 million

Today’s priciest listing

May 24, 2013 03:00PM               

Jade Ocean in Sunny Isles Beach

Today’s priciest new listing is a four-bedroom, four-bathroom condominium at Jade Ocean asking $4 million. The 2,485-square-foot home is located at 17121 Collins Avenue, Unit 3001, in Sunny Isles Beach. It features marble floors and built-in closets. The complex has a spa, fitness center, screening room and a children’s play room.  Listings are taken from the South Florida MLS.
–Mark Maurer

Prices climb for vacant lots in South Florida

May 10, 2013 03:00PM                      

2.55-acre lot at 20 Casuarina Concourse in Coral Gables (Source: StreetEasy)

Demand for waterfront property in South Florida is so high that the price for vacant parcels of land is rising along with it, the South Florida Business Journal reported.
Available lots are not all snapped up, but they are getting scarcer. In Coral Gables, a vast and exclusive vacant lot at 20 Casuarina Concourse in Gables Estates has a $13.5 million asking price, the Business Journal said. The trend can be seen in Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties.
Meanwhile, many are tearing down existing homes and building anew.
Detroit Tigers pitcher Anibal Sanchez is tearing down his Old Cutler Bay home at 275 Solano Prado in Coral Gables, which he bought in May for $4.5 million, said Toni Schrager of Avatar Real Estate Services.
A home’s physical, functional and economic value, as well as its age and surrounding property values, factor in to the price a buyer would pay for a teardown, author and developer Frank McKinney told the newspaper.
 [Business Journal] – Mark Maurer

5 Ways to Spring Clean Your Credit Report

Spring Clean your credit report in advance of kicking off your house hunt. It’s stressful to have little credit report glitches get in your way and hold up the process after you’re already in heated house hunt mode. 

Getting out in front of potential financing issues by doing a DIY credit cleaning gives you the chance to remove all those glitches and obstacles to a smooth loan approval, underwriting and home buying transaction. 

Here’s how to do-it-yourself:

1.  Do one scan for flat-out errors.  Go to AnnualCreditReport.com and order your credit reports from all three reporting bureaus: Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. Look for accounts that aren’t yours, that have long been closed or otherwise are erroneously reported (e.g., payments listed as late that were actually on-time, a short sale listed as a foreclosure, etc.). Follow the instructions on the reports to dispute such report errors immediately - both online/on the phone and in writing. 

Be prepared that it might even take several rounds of disputes and submissions of documents proving your case to ultimately clear everything up - if you experience this, make sure to loop your mortgage pro in after the first dispute round, rather than waiting months and months to even make the first call.  It might be the case that the hard-to-dispute items are simply not making much of a difference to your ability to get a home loan. 

2.  Do another scan for small reporting inaccuracies you think don’t make a difference - but do.  In particular, you’re looking for things like:

• delinquencies that should have aged off
• balances listed as higher than they truly are
• limits listed as lower than they really are, and
• short sales/foreclosures that are improperly dated, among other things. 

Paying bills late or not at all is only one thing that dings your credit report and score. Having a maxed out credit account (loan, line or card) limits is another.  So, if your credit report shows your balances as higher than they actually are or your limits as lower than they actually are, this by itself can actually impair your credit score. 

These sorts of little, technical errors can, cumulatively, create a serious, negative impact on your credit score. They are very common - and commonly overlooked by consumers who are looking primarily for big, bad errors and wrong reporting that might indicate identity theft or other nefarious goings-on.  So take a second tour through your credit reports looking for inaccurate balances and limits.

In the same vein, triple-check the dates of any delinquent payments, collections, short sale(s), foreclosure(s), or bankruptcies that are legitimately reported. Another common error is for these sorts of derogatory credit marks to have been dated inaccurately.  Delinquencies should age entirely off your report after 7 years, and bankruptcies after 10.  The precise date of a short sale or foreclosure can actually make or break your ability to qualify for a home loan - so make sure it is reported accurately.

3.  Pay the right things off - and take care not to pay off accounts you need to show your responsible use of credit. A few things that most lenders will demand you settle, bring current or pay off entirely before you can buy a home:

• accounts in collections
• state and federal tax liens
• past home loans or lines of credit in default that were not extinguished through foreclosure or short sale (e.g., second loans, home equity lines of credit, etc.)
• defaulted federal student loans (for FHA loan applicants).

If you do have to negotiate with any such creditors for settlements or repayment plans, consider including the way they report the account as one of the negotiables in your settlement deal.  Consult with your mortgage professional about how you should ask the creditor to report the resolution as part of the settlement - you might not get it, but it certainly doesn’t hurt to ask.

Your mortgage pro can also help you understand how you should sequence and prioritize the various items on this little laundry list. For example, some lenders might allow you to simply extinguish a tax lien at closing, while most FHA loans won’t allow for a credit pre-approval while you have a defaulted federal student loan on your report.

But do exercise some caution when you start paying off debt in preparation for home buying. Some house hunters take the opportunity to pay all their debt off and close out old, unused accounts, thinking it will document their readiness for the financial responsibilities of homeownership.  Not so: credit scores are optimized when they show that you (a) have credit available to you, and (b) are responsible in how you use it.  The ideal for the FICO score calculations is to be using roughly 30 percent of the credit available to you on your accounts.  So don’t pay them entirely off, and whatever you do, don’t close accounts that are open and/or current. 

That said, don’t go out charging up a storm trying to bring zero balance accounts up to 30 percent credit limit usage.  A flurry of new charges can upset your debt-to-income ratio and be seen by the FICO calculating robots as a sign of potential financial distress.

4.  Get your mortgage pro to help.  Up to now, you’ve been working on the reports that you can pull yourself, for free, as mandated under the federal Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACT Act) through AnnualCreditReport.com. These reports are free and are the smart starting point for your credit Spring Cleaning, but they have two important shortcomings:
(1) They are almost never identical to the report your lender will actually use as the basis of your mortgage application, and
(2) They do not include the FICO credit score on which lending decisions are based.

So, once you’ve dealt with any major or minor reporting errors you detect on the free reports, get your mortgage pro in the loop (if you haven’t already) and ask them to pull your report and FICO score, and help you to troubleshoot it.  From the report, they can tell you whether you’ll have any challenges qualifying at the price range you desire and, if so, they can help you put a plan of action into place for finishing up your credit fitness program.

Many mortgage pros have software or expertise that can power a set of recommendations about what you need to do to complete your credit report Spring Clean, like paying 3 particular accounts down by a specific dollar amount, each.  Also, they generally have access to Rapid Rescore or similar programs that will have your report updated and your credit score revised within a day or two after you pay a bill down or execute your mortgage broker’s other score-boosting advice. (By contrast, it can take 30 days or more it can take for your score to be updated if you dispute your report on your own.)

5.  Ask about augmenting your report with non-traditional “tradelines,” if needed.  If you simply don’t have much credit because you like to pay cash, kudos to you for managing your finances responsibly.  Increasingly, lenders will allow borrowers to use non-traditional accounts to document their credit history.  If you can document your history of paying your rent, health insurance, or even child care bills on time, every time, for at least 12 months, talk to your mortgage professional about whether you can use any of these accounts to prove yourself creditworthy to mortgage lenders. 

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson | Broker in San Francisco, CA