News-Press from Fort Myers, Florida • Page 45

'm0yif SOUTHWEST FLORIDA REAL NEWS-PRESS FRIDAY, MAY 8, 1992 if ESTATE i 4f for new building seaward of the line, which varies significantly but generally runs along Estero Boulevard on Fort Myers Beach and along West Gulf Drive on Sanibel. Many local properties now fall seaward of the line, and owners have complained that if their buildings are damaged, they can't be rebuilt without state permission. Unfortunately, only a damaging storm will test their complaints, and none has hit the Gulf shore in years. Other regulations limit where a home or building can be built, how high and sturdy it must be, what vegetation must remain and even how brightly beachfront lights can shine during turtle-nesting season. Learning limitations What with control lines, flood zones, lines of jurisdiction and permitting, the process can be so confusing that some businesses specialize in helping people manage their beachfront property.

"It takes a lot to keep up, because of different interpretations and because no two permits are the same," said Kate Gooderham, owner of waterfront property consultants Gooderham Associates. "I will sit down with (owners) and Howard and Eleanor Hopkins of Fort Myers Beach enjoy the sandy solitude of Barefoot Beach via the public access at the northern end of the beach. In the background are private homes, part of Lely Barefoot Beach. Beachfront caught between public rules, private rights By TONYA VINAS News-Press Staff Writer Those beautiful sunset-filled advertisements for beachfront homes never contain the word "erosion." They never mention the state's coastal construction control line, or the fact that the public can legally walk in your front yard. Sure you'll have breathtaking views and instant beach access, but buying a beachfront home also involves sacrifices, responsibilities and risks.

"It's a great place to live, but also let's recognize it's a high-hazard area because of erosion and damaging storms, particularly hurricanes," said Stan Tait, president of the Florida Shore Beach Preservation Association. Threats of storms, flooding and erosion have created perhaps the biggest drawback to owning beachfront property regulation. Myriad local and state agencies regulate the shoreline. The Department of Natural Resources, for instance, caused a furor in 1991 when it moved Lee County's coastal construction control line landward by 100 to 400 feet. The state enforces strict guidelines FIND OUT MORE Have questions about building on your beachfront property? Rick Joyce, principal planner with Lee County's division of environmental sciences, suggests contacting local building and zoning departments.

Also, check with the state Department of Natural Resources' division of beaches and shores (904) 488-3180. go over the piece of property and tell them about some things they may need to do." Knowing a piece of property's limitations, however, is only part of the battle. The permitting process can be frustrating and lengthy. "Not too many people are denied permits, but frequently there are changes made," Gooderham said. "The permitted drawings and the original drawings aren't usually identical.

It's a GAIL PASTULA REAL ESTATE WATCH Patience pays off for Daniels developers Patient developers of commerce parks at the Daniels ParkwayInterstate 75 interchange finally are getting their payoffs and a new crop of commercial speculators is moving in. Developers and businesses are flocking to the Interchange: The Regional Mail Handling facility opened last year at Jetport Commerce Park, the first operation to locate at the park in the southeast quadrant of the interchange. More recently, Danport Center, located at the northwest quadrant, has announced its Daniels frontage will have Wendy's and Denny's restaurants and a Shell gas station. On Treeline Road, investment broker James R. Colosimo, acting as trustee for Treeline Land Trust, is proposing Treeline Industrial Park on a little more than 29 acres south of Daniels on the east and west sides of the proposed extension of Treeline (to Corkscrew Road).

Colosimo is seeking industrial zoning for 26,800 square feet of offices, 1 66,200 square feet of light industrial development and 6,000 square feet of retail. Buildout is expected in 1997. The easternmost portion of the parcel would be developed into a mini-warehouse with 500 garages for passengers flying out of Southwest Regional. According to zoning records, the trust has a contract to sell Randy C. Elliott 10 acres of the land for $849,420 if the rezoning goes through.

Beneficiaries of the trust include, from Naples: Colosimo; Scott Bennett and Anna Woodland of Southwest Partners; Patricia Conley; Barbara Dickerson; Dean Fejes, trustee; Thomas McDonagh, Computer Assistance W.D. and Doris Reynolds; Raymond Sakran Betty Skonnord; and Mary Ellen zumFelde. Other Southwest Florida investors are Susan Meyer of Fort Myers and John Groetsch of Sanibel. Pennsylvania investors include John Bailey Erie; Frank Chiodo andRobert Peterson, Warren; Ferdinand Soisson Jr. and R.S.

Dewaters, trustee, Valley Oral Surgeons Johnstown; Judith and Ronald Doiron, Joseph Lenkey and Dr. James MacDougall, all of Pittsburgh; Edward Echnoz, Kittaning; James Hammond, Bradford; and Dr. James Smith Beaver Falls. Other beneficiaries are Harold Becker, National Leasing Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Roger Berrey, Rochester Hills, Julius Fejes, trustee, Orrville, Ohio; Joe Franklin, JMC Leasing Associates, Chatham, N.J.; Charles Gozder, Palos Park, Joseph and Delores Partoll, Palos Heights, Robert and William Haas, Custom Crews, Lockport, N.Y.; Cliff and Patsy Mezey, Lathrup Village, Richard Torrey, Commack, N.Y.; James Vachris, trustee, Montchanin, and Rose Marie Wuerz, East Detroit, Mich. Treeline rezoning Also on Treeline, Dale Stahlman of Fort Myers, acting as trustee, wants to rezone 9.4 acres he bought in March from Steve Dwos-kin for $516,500.

The land isat 12690, on the west side of Treeline, just 660 feet south of Airport Woods Commerce Center. Stahlman said he was asking for industrial zoning to match most of the land surrounding his parcel. Besides himself, beneficiaries in Stahl-man's land trust include Walter Schumm and Daniel Krienbrink of Fort Myers; R.D. Kennedy, Homestead; Martin Kuzmkowski, Delmount, B.L. Raymond, Pittsburgh; Walter C.

Schumm, La Grange, and Robert and Karen Fas-singer, Lower Burell, Pa. Amberwood Center opens At nearby Airport Woods Commerce Park, Amberwood Center, a center for office, retail, warehouse and distribution, has opened for occupancy. The building is zoned for a variety of industrial, commercial, warehouse and manufacturing uses. It is being leased in units of 2,1 00 square feet. The center was developed by Airport See WATCH, page 3E 1 1 TOM KANE News-Press negotiation process." Once a home or building is in place, the next issue is privacy.

Florida beaches are public up to the mean-high water line, an average of 19 years' worth of tide lines or, unofficially, the vegetation line left after the tide goes out. The public knowingly or unknowingly crosses this unmarked line daily, and most property owners have learned to live with the intrusions. "You learn that, if they're not doing a lot of damage, you just leave them go," said Roxie Smith, a Fort Myers Beach resident and former owner of the Pink Shell Resort. Improving attitudes Gooderham said trash is a constant isue with beachfront residents, especially when increased public access is proposed. "These are people who are living in fairly quiet neighborhoods, minding their own business, paying taxes," she said.

"You wouldn't like it if someone tossed their trash orhadapicnicin your front yard. People tend to forget that when they go to the beach." Smith said trash can be a problem, but See SHORE, page2E unlikely, according to the real estate broker who is marketing it. The property is the two-block, 9.6-acre tract immediately south of Coastland Center. The Fleischmann family as in Fleisch-mann Building, Fleischmann Park, Fleischmann Boulevard, etc. put the whole parcel on the market nearly two years ago for more than $7 million.

It can support about 1 00,000 square feet of retail and commercial activity. The Fleischmanns came back last year with a liberal plan to finance any development. Scott Cameron, the listing broker, said while there has been sustained interest in the property, there has been little for the whole tract. "At the price of the land, there really isn't too much room for a developer to get the mark-up he'd want from the end users," he said. Consequently, the Fleischmanns are now considering subdividing the land into several parcels.

"The piece has 1,100 feet of frontage on U.S. 4 1 and is 380 feet deep. We could take up to 1 1 end users each with 1 00 feet of frontage but we really don't want to cut it into too many little pieces," he said. The best-case scenario, he said, is for three or four major companies to buy.por-tions of the property. "We have one that needs about 200 feet of frontage and one that needs about 1 50 feet," Cameron said.

"Another one is interested in the northernmost end, and he could take up to 300 feet." Ed O'Donoghue is assistant business editor for Collier County. Owner ups stake in proposed Orioles site the king of quails involved in the development of Quail Creek, Quail Creek Village and the fledgling Quail West, as well as Longshore Lake has stepped out of the residential resale business. Hardy, the president and principal of Estates Properties of Naples has sold the three-year-old agency to Charles F. Welek III, who will merge it into his Welek Realty of Naples. The selling price wasn't divulged.

Estate Properties has operated as the "official" agency for resales within the Hardy communities. Welek said that will continue, even with the agency's change of names. Welek said some Estate Properties' agents and staff will be retained when his old and new firms are consolidated in offices in the Quail Plaza building at the entrance to Quail Creek. Ron Bell, Estate Properties' broker from its inception to its sale, won't be among that number, though. Bell, 28-year veteran of Naples real estate market and former president of the Naples Board of Realtors, is reactivating his own agency R.H.

Bell Associates. Quail West, Hardy's newest venture, is starting out with 53 1 acres immediately north of Quail Creek, south of the Lee County line and east of Interstate 75. A second phase will add 320 acres in Lee County south of the Worthington Country Club. Still later, another 320 acres will be added east of the original tract and south of the second one. Parceling out? Instead of one company overseeing development of the largest commercial tract remaining on U.S.

4 1 North, there could be as many as 1 1 but that's highly orth Naples land owner J. D. Nicewonder has doubled his financial interest in one of the sites he unsuccessfully pitched for development as a spring training facility for the Baltimore Orioles. This winter, while Collier County officials considered Nicewonder's offer to trade land off Immokalee Road, west of Interstate 75, for increased commercial zoning, the West Virginia coal baron had only $1 million at stake. In recent weeks, however, he reportedly upped it to at least $2 million.

The tract is the 246-acre Carlton Lakes planned unit development on the north side of Immokalee Road, one parcel removed from 1-75. Nicewonder proposed giving the county 186 acres if it would rezone the remaining 60 for commercial development. Currently, the site has only 7 acres zoned for commercial use. Title to the property remains in the name of Marvin Levin, a California-based real estate investor of national stature. Since last fall, Levin has been behind in annual mortgage payments.

Naples developers Lorenzo Walker and Kevin Stoneburner hold a first mortgage worth about $2.5 million on the bulk of the property. The Kaplan trust was owed $500,000 on a first mortgage on 23 front acres, and a second mortgage on the rest of the land. Having loaned Levin $1 million, Nicewonder held a second mortgage on the roadside acreage and a third mortgage on the remainder. In recent weeks though, Nicewonder took care of all of Levin's overdue notes: He bought the Kaplan mortgage and brought the WalkerStoneburner COLLIER UPDATE ED O'DONOGHUE mortgage up to date. Real estate brokers familiar with the tract suggest Nicewonder took action to protect his interests ir the property: Had Kaplan or Walker Stoneburner foreclosed on the land, Nicewonder would be the last creditor to see any money.

Now, he's the only one in position to sell the land from under Levin. A couple of weeks ago, without going into all of the negotiations under way, Levin said he was confident he'd retain ownership. However, Walker said his agreement with Levin specifies that Nicewonder is now responsible for making all future mortgage payments. Nicewonder, who was out of town on vacation, could not be reached to discuss his plans for Carlton Lakes. However, he reportedly has put a $5.5 million price on the property not enough to make a killing, but enough to cover the loans outstanding.

Relieved of resales With house lots in his new golf community now on the market, Bob Hardy,.