So-Old! Congratulations

The commercial building pictured above is Key West's first hospital, the Gayley Hospital. How fortuitous for gay Key West... For the last 30 or so years it has been the law offices of Nathan Eden and various attorneys. It is located one half block off Duval at 415 Eaton Street. And it is just a block walk to the Monroe County Courthouse complex on Whitehead Street. But it is just around the corner and backs onto the grounds of the Southern Cross Hotel located at 326 Duval Street.

The owner of the Southern Cross Hotel contacted me in January 2005 about Eaton Street property. It was then listed with another Realtor at $1,800,000, and we began the dance to purchase the building. We made several offers and counteroffers over the next two years, none of which led to anything other than frustration. The owners of the Eaton Street property went through three different brokers in an attempt to sell the building. They even raised the asking price before the Key West real estate market crashed. My buyer would have none of it.

The Monroe County Tax Records show that the building was built in 1943, but those records are surely inaccurate. The buildings lines and the bones of the building suggest much earlier construction. There are actually three buildings that are connected. They sit on a very deep lot that obscure the size of the building which is reportedly over 11,000 square feet. And it has off-street parking for several cars. So why the difficulty in selling the building, other than price, you ask.

It is a historic building in a very visible location. The Historic Architectural Review Commission must approve any renovation to any building in the historic district, so most buyers found the HARC restrictions and building code requirements to be oppressive. And the current cost of renovation in Key West makes almost any commercial renovation a very, very costly proposition. Those factors made that building decidedly a very costly proposition for most potential buyers.

But the owner of the Southern Cross Hotel had a plan in mind. He proposes to redevelop several of the current hotel rooms into larger (more profitable ) hotel rooms and move the remaining licenses to the Eaton Street addition. He will add a pool and small restaurant to Eaton Street and it will serve as the offices and registration desk for the hotel.

I was never able to have a face to face meeting with the sellers, both of whom are attorneys. I am an attorney as well, but not licensed in Florida. But I was finally able to get them to read a lengthy proposal that I made where I demonstrated how my buyer's most recent offer got them the near equivalent to the price they were asking back in January 2005. To my surprise they finally accepted it. And we closed the cash transaction on September 11th.

That wasn't the only property my client purchased in Key West this week. He also bought 300 Front Street for $6.5 million. That is a total of $8 million in commercial property in a very depressed market. My buyer is one smart cookie. He has made a lot of money in Key West, but he doesn't buy unless the price is right.

There are some very good buying opportunities in Key West right now. Maybe you should think of taking advantage of the situation while it lasts. Prices may go down a little further, especially on bad properties in bad locations, but there are many under priced gems out there looking for new ownership. Checkout our Key West mls website and by CLICKING HERE and then call me at 305-766-2642 to schedule a showing of the properties that interest you.

Congratulations Joseph! And Thank You.

God Lives Above Eddie's Red & White

One of the earliest memories I have as a child was my mother dropping me off at my grandmother's house in the dark of the early morning. The year would have been around 1949 or 1950. My mother was off to her job at a hospital where she was a telephone operator. My dad was in Greenland working on building Thule Air Force Base.  So in those early years of my life, my grandmother was the guiding force in determining who I would become as a man.

My big brother and me outside the hospital where my mother worked

 My grandmother's house was located on Yates Street in North Denver. The Denver Tramway (streetcar) ran down the middle of her street and terminated near the Lakeside Amusement Park. I have read that amusement parks were typically located away from city centers - out at the edge of towns where land was cheap.  Houses in her neighborhood were mostly modest bungalows built in the late 1800's and early 1900's.  This was at a time before subdivisions were built where all houses looked pretty much the same and before there were shopping centers. Instead, neighborhoods had a small shops where are residents would buy the necessities or get a haircut. This was also a time before everybody had a personal car and when many people relied on public transportation such as a bus or streetcar.  I remember riding the tramway to downtown Denver one summer day where I purchased a goldfish at Woolworths. The lady at the store put my goldfish in a container that looks like a modern day Chinese take-out container.  By the time we got home, the fish was dead. My first funeral. The tramway went out of business in Denver in 1950. I was three years old.

Eddie's Red and White was a two story building located at the opposite end of the block where my grandmother's house was located. The grocery was located on the ground level.  The owners (Eddie and Mrs. Eddie) lived on the second floor. My grandmother and I would walk the block quite often to buy whatever it was she needed on any given day. Two picture windows flanked either side of the entry door. Shelves lined the walls from the floor as high as the ceiling and from front to back, at least that is how I remember it. Small tables with fruits and vegetables were located near the shelves.

Mrs. Eddie was the greeter and cashier. She stood behind a counter that ringed the front part of the store where customers would place the canned goods, vegetables, and meats. Mrs. Eddie was such a sweet older woman. She always smiled at me and was pleasant to my grandmother. They exchanged comments like they were friends.

Eddie was the butcher.  He stood behind the meat counter where he would cut and wrap meat in white paper which he would then tie with a string or tape. The floors in the store were wood. However, sawdust lined the floor behind the meat counter where Eddie worked. I will never, ever, forget the image of Eddie. He always wore black trousers, a white shirt with the cuffs turned up, a black tie, a long white apron with straps tied behind his back, and a white hat tilted forward on his head. His hair was white. He always wore gold wire framed glasses that almost disappeared against his pale white skin. Eddie always had a smile on his face and he always had something kind to say to me.

My grandmother and I would walk the block back to her house with our groceries.  Life was simple then.

I attended the Berkley Methodist Church at the corner of 43rd and Sheridan Street which was located between my grandmother's house and where my family lived a few blocks to the west in the tiny little Town of Mountain View. I attended bible school and church services from as early as I can remember. Whenever the Sunday school teacher or the minister would say the word "God" Eddie's image appeared in my mind's eye. Still to this day whenever I think of God, I see Eddie.

In February 2013 I traveled back to Colorado to attend memorial services for Judge Francis W. Jamison.  I clerked for him when I was in law school.  I had not been back to Colorado for twenty years. I arrived just as a snowstorm hit Denver and left in a blizzard a few days later. The temperature was 20 degrees when I landed. I instantly remembered why I left.

During the following two days I drove past various places that were a part of my life before I moved to Key West. I took photos of my elementary school which now looks abandoned. My childhood house had been added onto several times. The white picket fence, the trees, and gardens my dad put in were all gone. My high school was torn down but had been replaced with a larger building. When I was a kid we would drive the A and W Root Beer stand on 38th or to Wheat Ridge Dairy for a malted milk. The dairy is now an Italian bakery. The places and streets of my youth were totally foreign to me. The first house I purchased as an adult, however, looks great.

What used to be Mountain View Elementary School

The former Wheat Ridge Dairy

The first house I purchased as an adult

I drove by my grandmother's house. Her house, Mrs. Bunger's to the north, and Mr. and Mrs. Simpson's house to the south were still there. But none of the houses looked like they did over sixty years ago. Instead of walking I drove rental car the one block south to see Eddie's Red and White. The building was no longer a grocery.  The brick was painted a lighter shade of red. The Coca Cola or Pepsi Cola logo on the side was painted over. I stood there and reminisced. I saw Eddie and Mrs. Eddie and my grandmother and little me.

Eddie's Red and White

I got back in the car and drove a couple of blocks to my see my old church. I wanted to cry. No the church was still there. It had not been torn down. The Spot Grocery, another small neighborhood grocery and the adjacent three seat barber shop were gone. One of the major moments in my life was graduating off the booster chair and onto the regular barber chair. A liquor store sits on that location.

What bothered me about the church of my youth was the neon sign in front of the building. I remember the church as it was in the 1950s when the nice men and women would walk out the front door after Sunday service and shake hands and converse. They wore suits and dresses and were kind to one another. Where they once stood is now that neon sign. NEON.

On New Years Day I had coffee with a buyer from several years ago. We meet a couple of times a year when she and her family are in Key West. Her son Harry was little more than an infant when we started to look at properties. He is now five. Like a lot of little ones in America, Harry often uses his mother's iphone.  During Christmas week he was asking a lot of questions about Jesus Christ. He looked at his mother and asked "Can you FaceTime with God?"

3 Casa Roma Lane, Key West - A Genuine One-of-a-Kind Home

Longtime readers of my blog know I love where I live, Key West. This is such a beautiful little town out in the middle of the ocean. I also love the post cards and old photos that show what Key West looked like decades ago - before it was "discovered" by the hippies,  gays, and literati who made Key West famous. It must have been a magical place then. Well, the weather and clean air and the mighty Atlantic Ocean have not changed. Town fathers have tried to preserve much of the town while allowing the tourist industry to flourish.

 The above photos show Casa Roma which in former days was an elegant compound of homes, incredible garden, and tower. The first aerial photo above was taken in 1941 while the photo immediately above was taken in 1950. During the intervening years the US government built a military hospital in the once open space to the north of the Casa Roma. Most if not all of that hospital has been rebuilt in the past two decades.  In the next couple of decades the little triangle space north of US 1 was filled in where the first Holiday Inn was later built. The wetlands across A1A (now South Roosevelt Blvd.) were filled and houses built. The land adjacent to A1A is now hotels The gardens south of tower have been developed with a few single family homes, condominiums, and weekly vacation rental time shares. The tower remains and it is now for sale.

When you compare the postcard view with the current photo you will see that there have been a couple of alterations to the structure, primarily windows added to allow sunlight into the building.

Casa Roma Lane is accessed off A1A. There is off street parking adjacent to this house. Once you pass the gate the majesty of the tower comes into full view. Then you see the box-like two story deck that converts the round tower into something not round. Then you see the pool and spa. Some may think the pool is too small. Others will find this outdoor space delightful, maybe even romantic.

The listing Realtor describes the property this way:

"The landmark tower on Casa Roma Lane. Architect and builder Kevin Melloncamp has created a stunning retreat for himself by incorporating the 1940’s tower with a large new addition surrounded by beautiful tropical gardens with heated pool and spa. This stand-alone home has an elegant entry and two bedrooms and two baths on the main level. The second level consists of a gorgeous living room with vaulted ceiling, surround sound and lots of natural light. The really cool, well equipped kitchen is in the tower with curved walls, granite counter tops and a round center island. Both the first and second floor open to large shady porches for relaxing and enjoying the views. The third level of the tower is a guest bedroom and bath. Enjoy the incredible 360 degree view of the island, Atlantic
and Gulf from the circular deck off of the fourth floor office or den with wet bar and fireplace. This incredible property is located on a private lane with parking for 2 cars, a nice storage shed and is adjacent to the Coconut Mallory Marina for boating."

The kitchen is located in the tower. It's amazing how much geometry went into crafting this space into a functional kitchen.  The spiral staircase leads upward to the top of the tower. Another amazing space. Then you walk out onto the circular walkway. As I looked at the historic photos from years ago and compare how much this tiny little part of the island has grown, I can't help regret not being able to see the space from the tower then and compare it to now. Of course, that's life anywhere - the then and the now and the future. Still this tower view no matter when anyone goes outside will always be something to see.

CLICK HERE to view the Key West MLS for more information on 3 Casa Roma Lane is offered for sale at $1,349,000. If this one-of-a-kind home intrigues you, please call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642, to schedule a showing.  I am a buyers agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Key West. 

1435 South Roosevelt Blvd. #1001 - Key West

JUST LISTED 1435 South Roosevelt Boulevard #1001 in Key West, Florida is 2192 sq ft stand alone private residence in the Coconut Mallory Compound. Loyal readers may not recognize the address, but I am sure you know the location on the eastern shores of our lovely island home.

I added an arrow to show the location of 1435 South Roosevelt #1001. This photo was taken in the 1990s. Since then the Navy Hospital has been totally rebuilt and many of the buildings visible then are now gone. However, the historic three story Casa Roma Tower is still visible from the street and  also from one of the bedrooms in this home. Not shown in this older photo is the new dock and boat slips appurtenant to the Coconut Mallory Compound. More about that later.

The listing Realtor describes this home this way:

"At the Gateway to Key West surprise yourself beyond all your expectations with this one of a kind residence. All on one level, walled for privacy in the Coconut Mallory Condo compound. The house opens onto an outside logia for year round relaxing and entertaining with a large private pool. Large living/dining and kitchen with top of the line appliances, icemaker and wine cooler. There are 3 en-suite oversized bedrooms and bathrooms with ample closets. In addition there is a small office off the kitchen with built-ins that could be converted to a 4th bedroom. 2 Car garage and parking courtyard. 30 ft. boat slip available separate from purchase for$150,000. Monthly fee is $1170 includes exterior insurances, water, electric and basic cable. Hurricane doors and windows."

Master Suite

Office

Guest Bedroom - This room has park-like views of the new Navy Hospital and Grounds

Separate Guest Suite

Entrance to the totally separate guest suite is off the far end of the large and sunny pool. The suite includes a mini-kitchen and seating area. The suite is as styled and detailed as the rest of the house.  Not shown is the private garage with a separate entrance off South Roosevelt Blvd.

The buyer of this home can also purchase a private 30 foot boat slip at the Coconut Mallory Resort for an additional $150,000.

CLICK HERE to view the Key West MLS datasheet on this property which is offered at $1,450,000. After you have looked at the photos, please call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642 to set up a private showing of this property. I am a buyers agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Key West.

Don't Play with Sharp Objects - A Cautionary Tale

I was at a home inspection a couple of weeks ago with a buyer's agent. We were standing on the rear deck discussing the installation of hurricane shutters - it's a thing in Key West.  The other agent had
a knife in his hand which he kept flailing about as he was talking. I kept telling him not to move his hand around.  He had something important to tell me. He felt compelled to keep moving that damned knife in the direction of my head. He wasn't mad. He was oblivious to the danger he could cause.

I had enough and told him the true story that happened in Denver three decades ago. I owned a bunch of apartments in Denver. I was on a trip to Tulsa, Oklahoma to testify in federal court against a guy who owned our bank a lot of money. My partner called me to tell me the story of what happened to Rick.

Rick was a 30 something tall, thin, exceeding handsome gay man who rented from me. He was the captain at the fine dining restaurant at one of Denver's premiere hotels. My partner told me that he had taken some new mini blinds to install in Rick's apartment.  Mini blinds are inexpensive and easy to install. All you need is a nail or drill to create a starter hole and then a screw driver to affix a screw to fasten a bracket to the window frame. Rick saw my partner put up one of the blinds and offered to help.

Within a few seconds of picking up a screw driver, Rick poked a hole in his eye. He screamed. My partner grabbed him and rushed him to Denver General Hospital. The wound was too severe to wait minutes for an ambulance. They were at the hospital in just a few minutes. It didn't matter. Rick lost his eye. It was heart breaking. This was life changing. It was forever.

I tell people this story because people do dumb things all the time without considering the consequences. There is a reason your mother told you not to play with sharp objects.

The Santa Caper

Christmas is always a time for reflection. I look back with such fondness on the way things used to be when I was growing up in the 1950s.  While I live in the present and don't dwell on the past, I cannot shake my memories of wonderful (and some not so wonderful) times many years ago.

My parents were barely out of their teens when my sister was born in 1930.  Five years later my big brother was born. Those two little kids were brought up during the Depression and moved with my mom and dad from city to city wherever my dad could find work including Dallas, Oklahoma City, Omaha, Cincinnati, and Lexington.  My family had moved to Denver by the time I came along in 1947.  I was an accidental baby that had the misfortune to live in a family who believed the Depression was still going on. Throughout my youth and teen years, I thought my mother was as tight as the Grinch. But I can remember when even she lightened up at Christmastime and made cookies, fudge, divinity, and hot chocolate too.

Not to miss a bargain, she bought the shortest and cheapest Christmas tree she could find. She placed it on top of our coffee table which made it look taller. There is an old photo of tiny me looking up at that tree. I remember one night so vividly. I pulled on an ornament and in the process pulled the tree down as well. My mother screamed at wee me and I thought bloody hell, I'm done for!

Just a couple of years later on the afternoon of Christmas Eve, I was helping my mother clean out the refrigerator to make room for our Christmas feast. I was perhaps eight or nine years old. I placed every single thing from the inside of our refrigerator on top of the blonde drop leaf dining table. I learned about gravity that afternoon. The above photo shows a table much like ours. Imagine the drop leaf extended and the entire contents of a refrigerator piled top of the table - pounds and pounds of food and liquid - awaiting to become party of a Christmas memory.


Just before Christmas my dad found this new time saving can of concentrated coffee (the size of a big tomato juice can).  The concept was simple: put a spoon of concentrated coffee into a cup, add hot water, and wham-o you have intensely rich coffee.  The last item I placed on the drop leaf table was the big can of liquid coffee. Back then tin cans had holes punched on either side to allow air pressure to let the contents flow: I guess resealable tops had not yet been invented.  At first the table leaf teetered, and then it tottered. I reacted quickly, but not quick enough. The table tumbled onto our brand new wall to wall carpet.  Bloody hell again!  I thought for sure I would die on this day. I raced to the phone and called my dad to come home quick, I told him my mom was going to kill me. He rushed home from work. The carpet was stained forever. It was all my fault.

I think it was the next Christmas that my folks last spent together. My dad had been in the hospital for some unspoken problem which I now think involved his prostate.  I remember being surprised and so happy when he came home on Christmas Eve day.  I told him how much I missed him and loved him. I remember him hugging me so tightly that day.  A week later on New Year's Eve day we all awoke to a great fire.  I remember hearing fire engine sirens awaken me in the early morning. The sirens were screaming in our little town. That sort of thing just did not happen back then. Sirens and cops and fire engines were foreign to me.  We looked out from our living room window to flames and smoke visible more than three blocks away. I remember it well, this truly was bloody hell. The next day was New Years Day, my birthday.  I walked up to the scene of the fire: a Safeway store at 38th and Benton. I remember people walking among the ruins. The front wall was gone and water was all over the floor. People were picking up cans of food as though they were souvenirs or something. Like a little fool I followed the adults inside and found a lime which I kept as my prize.

By the next Christmas my mother and dad had divorced. My mother told me there would be no Santa Claus that year. She said I was too big. I was not too big: I was still a squirt. My big brother had told me continuously for years that there was no Santa. The year prior (when my dad came home from the hospital) I went shopping with my mother and grandmother.  My prying eyes spotted little toys and a 45 RPM record of Ave Marie that ended up in my Santa stocking on Christmas Day. So I reluctantly admitted to myself that my treacherous big brother hadn't made this stuff about Santa. Well, he was still being mean: he wanted to spoil Christmas for me. Not so fast you big dick.  I'll teach you one last trick.

So on that Christmas Eve day when I was told not to hang my stocking, I decided to have one last visit from Santa. I went to Woolworth's and bought some candy and small toys including pieces for my Lionel train set. I returned to my house and found one of my mother's nylon stocking which I filled with the small toys, candy, and some fruit and  hid the stuffed stocking in the garage. 

We didn't have a fireplace. I always left the front door unlocked so Santa could get inside and leave my presents under the tree and fill my stocking attached to the floor lamp in our living room.

Before I went to bed that Christmas Eve night I made a point of going into my mother's bedroom to fetch a final nylon stocking which I hung it on the floor lamp in our living room like I had done for years before. My mother said it would be of no use. She knew not of my soon to be ruse. I went to bed, but not to sleep.  In the middle of the night through the house did I sneak while my mother and brother continued to sleep. I crept to the garage to retrieve my shocking stocking. While my mother and my brother continued to doze, my Christmas trick replaced her nylon hose with soon-to-be-gifts I purposefully chose.

For every year that I could remember, I would spring from my bed by dawn's early light, to see what Santa had left me that night. I remember on year my mother yelling at me from her bedroom with the door ajar, "Get back into bed!".   So that last Christmas I stayed in bed until my mother and brother had arisen, and through the door I did listen. She asked my brother if he had filled the stocking with toys and treats not to be found in our house. No he said, had she? How could it be, did Santa exist after all? I finally got up delighted in having created on the perfect Santa Caper. I took the toys from my stocking and said not a word.