GlobeSt.com UPDATE: Washington-Tampa Investors Buy Sandy Lake Towers for $24M

Brazilian developer/owner Sergio Naya lost the property in U.S. Bankruptcy Court to J&P LLC, a little-known Washington, DC and Tampa, FL investment group.

J&P is buying the potentially valuable asset for $24 million or $58,823 per unit. In a last-minute offer, Naya offered $24.6 million and an $800,000 fee to J&P if he couldn't close the deal. But Judge Karen S. Jennemann rejected the offer, ruling Naya had missed the April 24 bid deadline.

In court-filed papers, Naya previously valued the completed first tower and 90%-completed second tower at $33 million or $80,882 per unit.

But Orlando construction industry estimators tell GlobeSt.com on condition of anonymity the two buildings can't be erected today for less than $100,000 per unit or a total $41 million at the minimum. Naya and the new owners couldn't be reached at GlobeSt.com's publication deadldine.

The ownership group includes Clarence H. Jackson III, vice president, the Jackson Investment Co. LLC, Washington, DC; his brother, Tyoka Jackson, a defensive tackle for the St. Louis Rams football team and formerly with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers; and David Post, the group's managing partner.

The group told the court it plans to invest another $44 million in Sandy Lake Towers and convert the property at 6145 Carrier Drive to a resort and spa hotel. That would place the buyer's effective purchase cost at $68 million or $166,667 per unit, more in line with today's estimated replacement costs for a comparable property, construction industry estimators tell GlobeSt.com.

The buyer plans to have the first phase of the reborn Sandy Lake Towers surfacing by December 2003, according to area brokers who have been following the property's 10-year development trail. The existing hotel-condo project is the longest construction job in recent metro Orlando annals, Orange County building permit staffers tell GlobeSt.com.

Closely monitoring the latest Sandy Lake Towers scenario is Orlando timeshare developer David A. Siegel. He has purchased $16 million in mortgages on the property previously held by Arbor Commercial Mortgage of New York, court records show. Siegel would have to be paid off before the Sandy Lake Towers deal could close.

Sandy Lake Towers Inc. voluntarily filed for Chapter 11 protection from creditors in August 2001, listing assets of $19,000 and liabilities of $20 million. Naya told the court the property was losing $100,000 a month.

Sandy Lake Towers No. 1, a condo-hotel asset, is at 25% occupancy, up from 11.5% occupancy in October 2001, according to published reports.

Naya gained unwanted international media exposure in 1998 when his 22-story Palace II apartment building in Rio de Janeiro collapsed and killed eight persons. Naya denies defective construction work cause the structure's collapse.

Sandy Lake Towers' new owner, J&P LLC, isn't listed with the Florida Division of Corporations to do business in Florida, GlobeSt.com research shows.

The only J&P LLC that appears on the Internet is a construction/development company based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. GlobeSt.com couldn't reach J&P LLC officials in Dubai, Tampa or Washington to learn whether the firm is associated with the Mideast company.