Hoffman Development selling new condos fast

Hoffman Development selling new condos fast

The Review declared that WCI founder Al Hoffman Jr. was back in the real estate game in 2008. Since then, his new firm's results are harkening back to the good old days.

Late last year, Hoffman Development Group bought half of the gated Miramar community in The Country Club at Lakewood Ranch for $6.4 million covering 29 finished townhome and condominium units, 60 developed lots and a clubhouse. Hoffman has already sold 28 of those 29 units.

In June, the company found a partially completed waterfront condominium building on the Village of Island Estates between Clearwater and Clearwater Beach. It closed in just 20 days, buying the $7 million mortgage note to the property for an unspecified discount. Having spent the past five months completing that final 40% of the Majestic Point, the building had its grand opening two weeks ago. The company has since sold five of the 14 condo units in the development.

“The developer did a great job designing that place,” says Charles Brasington, CEO and president of Hoffman Development Group. “They presold the units, but the buyers walked away from their deposits. The building is quality; the floor plan is quality. Each unit has its own dock slip and boat lift. It's in an old established community. You can't replicate that. We recognized it as a great project right away. We bought it from the bank out of bankruptcy.”

Brasington admits however that not all of the company's bets have been correct. He had expected 2008 to be the bottom of the residential real estate price decline, but prices have continued to drop.

“But because of the project's location and quality we've been able to hold our price,” he says. “I can't find enough good deals.”

To attract buyers, Brasington and Hoffman dropped the prices of the Majestic Point from the preconstruction $850,000s to an average price of $500,000. The developer also structured the association fees to be around $500.

“The nice thing about being partners with Al Hoffman is he's built some 50,000 homes,” Brasington says. “I've been with him for 24 years. It doesn't take him long to know what makes sense. He can walk in and see a place and close in 20 days. That's only because of his experience and ability to pull the trigger.”