Condo converter in Pines calls for relief from 90-day limit on for-sale signs
Condo converter in Pines calls for relief from 90-day limit on for-sale signs
By Joe Kollin
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
February 28, 2006
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South Florida Sun-Sentinel
February 28, 2006
PEMBROKE PINES � It's a sure sign of a slowdown.
Sales of condo conversions have slowed so much lately that one converter is asking the city for some relief.
Under the current code, converters can keep their signs up for 90 days. Then the signs must come down and can't be put back up for another 90 days.
"Ninety days isn't long enough," attorney Henry Mejia told the city's Planning & Zoning Board recently. "We don't know how long it will take to sell because of the slowdown. Before we could sell out in 90 days. Now it's seven months and we're only 40 percent sold."
Mejia represents GREC Conversion XVIII Ltd. of Miami, which is selling 348 apartments at the Palms of Pembroke Pines. The complex, where one-bedroom units go for about $150,000, is located at 9450 Palm Circle N., next to the police/fire station on Pines Boulevard.
City codes don't say anything about condo conversions so the city makes them comply with the same sign ordinance as shopping centers. Mejia wants the city to treat conversions like other residential property.
The planning board on Sept. 8 gave the Palms a permit to put up two 32-square-foot signs facing Pines Boulevard for 90 days.
"I don't know if we should change the code just because the market changes," Vice Chairman John Jacob said.
"I don't look at it like a changing market. I look at it as something new for this city. Nothing in the code covers condo conversions," Chairman Henry Rose said.
Board members voted to have the city staff prepare a measure that would limit condo conversion signs to 90 days with renewals possible up to 180 days.
The staff will come up with the criteria for granting extensions.
The proposal could be ready for city commissioners to consider March 15.
As of this week, 3,200 of the 8,290 rental units in Pembroke Pines, about 39 percent, have been converted to condos, according to the city's Planning Division.
Joe Kollin can be reached at jkollin@sun-sentinel.com or 954-385-7913.
Sales of condo conversions have slowed so much lately that one converter is asking the city for some relief.
Under the current code, converters can keep their signs up for 90 days. Then the signs must come down and can't be put back up for another 90 days.
"Ninety days isn't long enough," attorney Henry Mejia told the city's Planning & Zoning Board recently. "We don't know how long it will take to sell because of the slowdown. Before we could sell out in 90 days. Now it's seven months and we're only 40 percent sold."
Mejia represents GREC Conversion XVIII Ltd. of Miami, which is selling 348 apartments at the Palms of Pembroke Pines. The complex, where one-bedroom units go for about $150,000, is located at 9450 Palm Circle N., next to the police/fire station on Pines Boulevard.
City codes don't say anything about condo conversions so the city makes them comply with the same sign ordinance as shopping centers. Mejia wants the city to treat conversions like other residential property.
The planning board on Sept. 8 gave the Palms a permit to put up two 32-square-foot signs facing Pines Boulevard for 90 days.
"I don't know if we should change the code just because the market changes," Vice Chairman John Jacob said.
"I don't look at it like a changing market. I look at it as something new for this city. Nothing in the code covers condo conversions," Chairman Henry Rose said.
Board members voted to have the city staff prepare a measure that would limit condo conversion signs to 90 days with renewals possible up to 180 days.
The staff will come up with the criteria for granting extensions.
The proposal could be ready for city commissioners to consider March 15.
As of this week, 3,200 of the 8,290 rental units in Pembroke Pines, about 39 percent, have been converted to condos, according to the city's Planning Division.
Joe Kollin can be reached at jkollin@sun-sentinel.com or 954-385-7913.
Copyright � 2006, South Florida Sun
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