Spurred in part by the success of George Heaton’s Tarpon Flats subdivision, where half-million-dollar homes have been selling briskly, Orlando developer Jeff Gelman plans to revamp and revive the long-dormant Avalon development on the barrier island just south of the Indian River County line.
Avalon is a 16.8-acre, 36-lot project with 32 home sites on the west side of A1A and four oceanfront lots east of A1A. Gelman bought the western section, which extends from the highway to the Indian River Lagoon, in October for $2,250,000. He plans to break ground on model homes in February and begin offering houses for sale shortly afterward.
Gelman, who founded his business Gelcorp industries in 1987 in Chicago, says 3-bedroom, 3-bath, 2-story luxury homes will start at $599,000, a price close to what buyers are paying in Tarpon Flats a few miles farther down the road, and well below what a similar new house would cost on the island in Vero Beach, if any were available. Buyers will have the option to purchase larger homes if they want to, with prices going up to $2 million.
Gelman has developed a number of successful subdivisions and other real estate projects in Chicago, North Carolina and Florida, according to his company website and Treasure Coast Sotheby’s broker Michael Thorpe.
“His track record is exemplary and his attention to detail is second to none,” says Thorpe, who sold the property to Gelman and will market and sell the new homes.
Gelman also builds estate homes, including a 5,000-square-foot Mediterrean-style house on Jupiter Island that he sold to Microsoft mogul Bill Gates for $5 million.
“I was really impressed with the opportunity at Avalon when Michael introduced me to it,” says Gelman. “I see it as having all the advantages of Vero Beach and St. Lucie County at the same time. You are very close to everything and you can walk barefoot to the beach.”
Thorpe points out that the property is bracketed by park land – Round Island County Park to the north and Avalon State Park to the south – which will never be developed, ensuring that future residents will always be surrounded by a picturesque natural environment.
Despite its attractive setting, the project languished for a number of years due to the real estate downturn. The property was originally plated and entitled in 2005 and then sold to Gary Shear, a prominent Miami builder with a roster of high-end clients in Coral Gables, Coconut Groves, Pinehurst and other wealthy South Florida enclaves.
When Shear bought the property in January 2006, Florida home values, which had jumped more than 20 percent in the previous year, were at their all-time historical high, poised for an epic plunge.
Unaware he was on the verge of a crash in real estate values, Shear priced his prospective homes aggressively. An article published by Luxlist.com in 2006 reported, “There are nine different models at Avalon Beach, ranging from a 3,700-square-foot, 3-bedroom, 2-bath model to an 8,947-square foot beachfront mansion with eight bedrooms. Prices range from $2 million to over $7 million.”
Three houses were built on the western side of the development and one home partially completed on the oceanfront before the bottom fell out.
The Kentucky bank that financed the project eventually foreclosed on Shear and in 2013 listed the property with Treasure Coast Sotheby’s.
Sotheby’s sold the three houses in the western section, which are now occupied, and then sold the remaining 29 lots to Gelman as a package.
The bank still owns the oceanfront lots and Thorpe says the oceanfront house, which was completed in 2014, is being used as a vacation home for the bank’s top executives.
Gelman believes the smaller, less costly houses he has planned are a better fit for the market than then the big multimillion-dollar homes Shear was unable to sell.
“The future is two-story homes with one-story living,” he says of the houses he has in mind for the south island subdivision, which he has renamed Ocean Estates of Vero Beach. “Living, dining, outdoor space and the master will all be on the first floor. The second floor will be guest rooms. We will hit it out of the park with the quality of finishes.”
He says the basic model will have between 2,200 and 2,400 square feet of air conditioned living space with another 800 square feet under roof, including garages, terraces and balconies.
All the infrastructure for the project is in place and St. Lucie County Senior Planner Diana Waite says “the site plan has been approved for the entire project,” which means there should not be any delay pulling permits for individual houses.
“These will be brand-new, up-to-code, energy-efficient luxury homes selling for the same price as a 20- or 30-year-old home would sell for in Vero Beach,” says Thorpe. “It is an unbelievable value proposition.”
