Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Thursday, April 06, 2006
BOCA RATON - Frustrated by the snail's pace of Eden Condominium construction, city officials will not rule out requiring that the community be demolished if the apartment-to-condo conversion continues to drag on.
"Obviously, for a variety of reasons, we would like to see it finished," said Jorge Camejo, Boca Raton's director of development services.


However, he said, "in a situation like this, the developer either needs to finish it or return the property to its natural state, which may include demolition."
For now, no one is issuing ultimatums. The developer, West Palm Beach-based Ceebraid-Signal Corp., this week submitted a new construction timeline: a return to full construction in May, with completion by early next year. And Camejo said the city "is evaluating the merits" of the firm's explanation as to why gutting and rehabbing the 204-unit complex has lagged since spring 2003, when the sales office opened for business.
At that time, Ceebraid expected owners could pick up their keys and start moving in by March 2004, despite ambitious construction plans that included taking the existing apartment walls down to the studs.
Ceebraid principal Adam Schlesinger has cited rising construction prices and two years of back-to-back hurricanes as key reasons for postponements. Further, he said, of more than 200 presale contracts for Eden units, "most purchasers have chosen to stay the course of the contract" despite delays.
Attorney Wendy Larsen, who is working with Ceebraid to negotiate a construction schedule with the city, said, "Things happen in construction. When you lose four months in construction time due to hurricanes and resulting increases in costs, well, this is not the only project that has experienced these issues."
For instance, one South Florida condo had to refund deposits after construction costs soared; others have struggled to secure materials as basic as roofing tiles.
Ceebraid, a 44-year-old firm with high-profile properties in Manhattan, Philadelphia and Connecticut, was already facing the prospect of $2,000-a-day fines from Palm Beach. That town ordered an arm of Ceebraid to finish long-running renovations on its Brazilian Court condo-hotel by Sept. 30 or pay the hefty fees. Renovation of the Brazilian began in 2002.
Last month, the Ceebraid affiliate secured $2.5 million in financing and pulled new construction permits for work on the property.
Work on other projects, such as the upscale Bacara condos, also in Boca Raton, has gone more smoothly, according to the company.
"We have approximately 100 construction personnel on site daily to ensure completion of the residences," Schlesinger wrote in a recent public statement, noting that closings on units have already begun.
By contrast, some Eden sales originally expected to be closed last summer have been pushed back to this September, or even January, according to buyers.
To be sure, a late sale is better than no sale at all. "It's not in the city's or anybody else's best interests" to give up on the project, Larsen said.

Find this article at:
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/business/content/business/epaper/2006/04/06/a1d_eden_0406.html

Written by: No Author