Siegel in Line to Bid on Troubled Sandy Lake Towers

ORLANDO-The clock is ticking for J&P LLC of Washington, DC and Tampa, FL, a little-known investment group with a $24 million contract ($58,823 per unit) on the bankrupt 17-story, 408-unit, twin-building Sandy Lake Towers hotel-condo complex at 6145 Carrier Drive in the city’s main tourist area.

J&P has until May 30 to come up with the money. If the deal isn’t done then, the property will be sold at a public auction June 4.

Standing at the head of the bidding line with be David A. Siegel, Orlando’s foremost timeshare developer and founder/chairman of Central Florida Investments Inc. Siegel previously bought $16 million in first and fourth mortgages on the 11-year-old property from Arbor Commercial Mortgage of New York.

Siegel bought the mortgages through Investco LLC, a company purportedly under the Central Florida Investments Inc. umbrella.

GlobeSt.com couldn’t reach Siegel at publication deadline to learn whether Investco LLC is associated with Boca Raton, FL-based Investco Inc., a 22-year-old timeshare-investment firm whose trading on the Over-the-Counter exchange was suspended for 10 days on April 29 by the Securities and Exchange commission.

If Siegel is outbid at the auction, the buyer will have to pay Siegel his $16 million mortgage amount, plus interest, before the sale can close, court deputies tell GlobeSt.com.

Brazilian developer/owner Sergio Naya lost Sandy Lake Towers to J&P when he filed a late $24.6 million bid ($60,294 per unit) April 25, missing the April 24 court-mandated deadline set by Judge Karen S. Jennemann.

Naya’s firm, Sandy Lake Towers Inc., voluntarily filed for Chapter 11 protection from creditors in August 2001, listing assets of $19,000 and debt of $20 million.

Sandy Lake Tower No. 2 remains unfinished after 11 years of construction, the longest construction job in recent metro Orlando annals, according to city and county building permit records. Sandy Lake Tower No. 1, a condo-hotel property, is at 25% occupancy, up from 11.5% occupancy in October 2001.

In court-filed papers, Naya valued the completed first tower and 90%-completed second tower at $33 million or $80,882 per unit. But Orlando area construction industry estimators tell GlobeSt.com on condition of anonymity the two buildings can’t be erect today for less than $100,000 per unit or a total $41 million at the minimum.

Area brokers project bidders at a public auction could pick up the twin pink-hued properties for less than replacement cost. Comparable class A hotel-condo projects are being developed at $200,000 per unit or about $81 million.

GlobeSt.com couldn’t find a telephone listing in Washington, DC or Tampa, FL for J&P LLC or Jackson Investment Co. LLC.

The groups purportedly include Clarence H. Jackson III, vice president, Jackson Investment, 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, J&P’s managing partner.

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.