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OPINIONS ON CONDOMINIUMS

Lori Meadows, property manager of The Strand apartments on the Southbank, said the nearby Peninsula, which was built as condominiums, was fully sold and was complete before the market began to erode. But the 295-unit Strand, built as apartments, couldn’t be converted to condominiums due to the downturn, she said.

Meadows formerly worked at Heritage Deerwood, another Jacksonville condominium development where sales stalled, fracturing it into rentals.

“The developer had no choice,” she said. “The market changed. As much as we tried, it just wasn’t happening.”

It is about time that the issue of condominium conversions to apartment rentals was addressed here in Northeast Florida. I would like to point out that due to the article being so brief, that several key points were not identified. These ‘key points’ are extremely relevant to the Lantern Square Condominiums in Kendall Town.

The condo at Lantern Square which I still own (we are not yet in foreclosure and may be selling our condo) with my life-partner of seven years (not my roommate) was purchased in 2007. At the time of our purchase, we looked at thirty different developments here in Northeast Florida. We settled on Lantern Square for a variety of reasons; quality of life, visual surroundings, location, development of Phase II Retail adjacent to the property and the various amenities, and promises made by the sales people, and by extension, the owner of the community.

In the past year, the community has become one of crime, tenant evictions, no amenities, increased HOA fees, landscaping that has seen better days, buildings that have suffered many defects in constructions, and the list goes on. We have done extensive research on the community and with certain aspects of how things have been handled. It has been frustrating to say the least.

The developer of this community and the sales/leasing staff insist that it is the economy that has led our community into his present condition. Many of us owners disagree. The condition of the community stems from mismanagement and nothing more. Visit Lantern Square and then take a look at communities such as Montreux , Villages of Medici, 1661 Riverside, the Chelsea Lofts, and many other communities who are all thriving in this current economy. For most of the owners at Lantern Square who are considering foreclosure, it is our only option. To my knowledge, there are few owners who are unable to pay their mortgages. It is another thing to continue paying a mortgage on property that now sits in a rental community. Look at it from our point of view: my partner and I paid $226,000 for our condominium unit. Our value is now about $130,000. If we do a short-sale, we might be lucky enough to get $100,000. But, as the article states, the developer(s) are doing what they can to cover themselves. We did not purchase our condominium at Lantern Square to make a fast buck. We bought the place to make a home for ourselves and a nice space to enjoy. Lantern Square is a far cry from anything even remotely enjoyable anymore.

There are far more issues going on with many of these condominium developments than what has been stated in this well-written, but very brief article. I applaud the T-U for running the story and extend my sincere appreciation. However, if you truly want to educate the public about the ‘condominium situation’, how about letting more owners who purchase condos in many of these communities share more of the facts. This is not about condo owner versus tenant. The situation is about your average condo buyers/owners who have been put in the position of where they will never be able to sell, where their property value is worth next to nothing, and where condo developers are letting the purchasers of said condo units take the bullet.

As we owners at Lantern Square were told last August in a resident’s meeting, “We are all on the Titanic together”. I guess that statement was indeed true, as we are surely on the verge of sinking.
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