BOOM! Goes North Roosevelt Boulevard, Key West

 

A loyal reader of my blog sent me a text on Friday asking if the Hilton Garden Inn had sold recently. I knew no sale went through the Key West MLS but decided to search the Monroe County Property records. And there it was: the hotel  sold on October 12, 2021 for $58,000,000. The buyer is a new LLC under BLACKSTONE REAL ESTATE in New York City. BLACKSTONE purchased a smaller neighboring property for an additional $5,000,000 on the same day. As I said these sales were not reported in the Key West MLS 

Readers of my blog will recall I started posting photos of the renovation of North Roosevelt Boulevard in 2013 which included the former Holiday Inn. When the building was renovated and expanded the property was rebranded as Hilton Garden Inn. Other 1970 hotels and motels were each renovated during the same time period. The State of Florida Department of Highways saw the renovation of the hotels as an opportune time to redo a two mile section of US 1 as it enters the Island of Key West.  

By April 2015 the projects were progressing toward completion. Nothing happens quick in Paradise. CLICK HERE to view photos I took to commemorate the project. I took the final photos on Saturday morning. The palms and tropical foliate have grown so tall and thick that the hotel is almost invisible. By coincidence or planning, the new highway infrastructure really added to the revitalization of the hotel properties as a whole. .

Locals will recall the hell of trying to find alternate routes of travel during the two years of highway and hotel hell. It looks pretty good. 

Key West Where Freeloaders Go Free

 

A decade ago I sold one of my favorite homes in Key West to a lovely couple from the Midwest. They looked at houses for a couple of years during and after the Great Recession in 2008. They had cash to buy the perfect or imperfect house. They chose the latter. They engaged a premiere architect and builder and rebuilt their dream house. They added one of those new-fangled tv cameras to the front porch which allowed them to watch Key West in real time from their place up north. 

The gentleman owner looked like Mr. Wilson from the Dennis the Menace tv show from the 1960s except he was a soft-spoken man - not one to get prissy about anything like Mr. Wilson. 

My owner had true Midwest values but appreciated the quirky Key West lifestyle. To a point. He had a Rule, however: Thou Shall Not Sit on My Porch! My owner called the Key West police when he saw a well known vagrant sitting on his porch. He called the Key West Police Department which arrested the man. I have seen this man's mugshot dozens of since then. I know his name. All Key West cops know this guy by sight. They book him and then the county sheriff frees him. All the time.

My buyers eventually sold their dream house not because of the porch sitter. But he did screw with their vision of a perfect retirement in Key West.

I will share this with you: The Monroe County Sheriff boasts about the money he makes for the county by renting rooms in the County Jail to other government agencies. He houses and feeds inmates like a hotelier except the guests cannot leave. He lets habitual freeloaders like the porch sitter go free and houses criminals for profit.

Another Recent Key West Real Estate Transaction of Interest

Yesterday I blogged about the sale of an empty lot in the tony Casa Marina Area of Key West. Astounding price. Two days on the market. 

Later in the day a fellow Realtor listed a small guest house near my office for over $6 million. Bonkers Asking Price or so I thought. We shall see what happens to that. 

Shortly after seeing the listing post in the MLS I saw a transaction hit the Monroe County Clerk of Court Record in the DEEDS section. Two guest houses located on Duval Street sold to one buyer. First, let's look at what they were.

1317 Duval Street over the years

Guest cabins

Casa Blano Apartments

Still apartments in 1973. Image by Edwin O.Swift III

Most recently Avalon Guest House

1012 Duval Street

Photo from the mid 1960s. 

From 2009 1012 Duval Gardens Hotel

 Current Duval Gardens Hotel

Okay, I will end the suspense. Both properties were purchased on October 20, 2021 for $19,690,000. The properties did not go through the MLS so I presume no realtors were involved. 

Congratulations to the seller and buyer. 

 

Banking Real Estate in Key West

 

I blogged about 1420 Whalton Street a couple of times over the past five years. It was a mid-century house located in one of the best locations in Key West. I showed the place to several people who hemmed and hawed. They had reservations. I told them to buy it, rent it, and bank the place. I said it would only go up in value. I was told that the guy that owns the house across the street bought it to prevent someone from building a monster house on the lot. He paid $1,182,747 or $277 per sq ft in March 2020. Then he took the house down, filled in the pool, and put up a fence to keep people out. 

I was in Colorado on September 20th of this year when the new owner listed this same lot for sale at $1,450,000. I planned to call the listing agent up to discuss blogging about the property. I thought the price was bonkers but our market has been bonkers. Two days later it went under contract. It closed on October 7, 2021 for $1,400,000 or $328 per sq ft. The owner/seller flipped an empty lot making a $217,253 "profit" in nineteen months. Of course the seller paid for the demolition expenses, realtor commission, and his share of closing costs. Still, he had a pretty good payday at the end. CLICK HERE to see MLS on this sale

Gary Thomas, Realtor, Preferred Properties Key West Florida

 

 

Live Your Dream! Lose Your Virginity!

 

 

Above photo taken October 24, 2014 across the street from Bourbon Street Pub. That's somebody's mother. It has nothing to do with real estate. Just wanted to post it in remembrance of that day.

I started today's blog on February 14, 2011 but did not post it. I found it while searching the word "auction" because today, October 28th, is the anniversary of the day I purchased my first property in Key West. Take a brief read. What I wrote then is playing again.

I hosted an Open House yesterday. Quite successful, in fact. I had 107 plus people.I got so busy I lost track while talking to potential buyers. I kept hearing similar remarks about how much the market has recovered and how much so many people want to buy a place here. There were, of course, the neighbors and lookie-loos who show up at any open house. I recognize many of them when they walk past the front door. Those folks are usually in and out in just a few minutes. They are semi-pros. They watch the mls and read blogs about Key West real estate (copycats all).  But the virgins, the people who have been to Key West once or many times who finally decide they think they want to buy a house, they are the people that get my attention. It's as if they are back in high school and ask their friend (me) to see if its safe to ask that certain someone if they liked the other person. Only in the case of real estate, is it okay to look, to touch, to buy? Will I fail? What if I fail? What if I pay too much? Will my life be better if I buy a place in Key West? Yes to the last question. As for the other questions, if you don't take the step and lose your virginity, you will never know the joy of sex, I mean the joy of living here. 

I have written several times that it took me nine years to finally buy a place here. I made many ill fated offers prior to that. My offers were usually too low in price or too harsh in terms of requiring the seller to warrant this or that or some other legal mumbo jumbo. I lost my virginity at a public auction with a bunch of others in a competitive bidding. I got the nerve to make the bold move to out bid the others and ended up getting the grand prize. Instead of bidding lowest, I bid highest. But I got the prize everybody else wanted. 

In Key West real estate most places are one-of-a-kind. The real estate market in Key West is really brisk right now. Town is full of people and many of those people go through the thought process of wondering if they could or should buy a place here. Some look at the signs on real estate company front porches or boxes attached to listing signs. Some contact an agent and go look at houses to see how much things cost. 

New: That's where I stopped. That blog never got published. Ten years have passed. The place I bought sold twice after i sold it. It is making a mint. All guest houses are. Real estate prices are beyond crazy. The thing that holds true is there is only one Key West. I have heard but never visited other coastal areas that have old towns kind of like Key West.  But they are not the same because they have old houses. The thing I don't like is also the thing I have become a part of - looking at real estate as being a cash register. I can't change that. Money in. More money out. That's the way it works. Virgins welcome.

 

901 Elizabeth Street. Key West

 901 Elizabeth Street is located in the X Flood Zone near the tippy Top of of the Island of Key West. In fact the top spot is located just one block north and was once called Buzzards Roost. The present house replaced an earlier building identified as MEAT that appeared in the 1892 Sanborn Fire Map when it was identified as 437 Olivia Street. A new house of different size and location on the lot appeared in the 1892 map. The address was changed to 901 Elizabeth Street on the 1899 map. The aerial photo above shows a carport on the right side of the 7,100 Square Foot Lot (100 feet on Elizabeth Street by 71 feet on Olivia Street).

The house three fairly good size porches on the south, west, and north facing sides. There are two additions to the original square house. The single family house has 2,398 Square Feet of Living Space which has been lived in by the same family for generations.

We should all look so look this good at 129 years of age!

The house was divided into three living spaces to provide separate living spaces for family members only. A door separates Mom's place from the main area shown just above. The interiors are all clean and tidy. The kitchen is new and expansive. The first floor has high ceilings as compared to many of the homes on Old Town.

An external stairway leads to the third living area on the second floor. It has a kitchenette, bedroom, and bath in addition to the living area. Windows on four sides fill this space with light. It feels light and airy even if the ceilings cramp the walking area just a bit. Careful on standing straight-up too quickly.

I recently showed this property to a prospective buyer. I looked about the yard and noted there did not appear to be any protected trees or obstruction that would prevent a new owner from adding a good size swimming pool. There are currently two off street parking spaces: one the angled parking off Elizabeth and the other off Olivia Street.

I took the above photo in 2016 looking toward 901 Elizabeth Street - less than a full block to the west. You could not ask for a better location. All the madness of Duval Street is two blocks away (not being on top of it but near it). St Mary's Basilica is one block to the south where you can get saved if you were really bad. Old Town Fitness is one block east of the church, Better Than Sex is one block west of the church. You decide what you crave. 

CLICK HERE to view the Key West MLS datasheet and listing photos for 901 Elizabeth Street, Key West Florida offered for sale at $2,490,000. Then please call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642, and schedule a private showing of this lovely home. I am a buyers agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Key West. 

901 Elizabeth Street appears to be in really good shape. I think most new money spent will be on upgrading as opposed to repairs.

The Nightmare on Eaton Street, Key West

Do you recognize this Key West location? If you are a local or returning visitor to Key West you probably have walked or driven by it many times. The two buildings in the rear are your clue. If you are a Keywester in your late 70s you might be one of the children.

The dark areas of the map show the breadth of the destruction caused by the Great Fire of 1886.

 

I found some photos on the Monroe County Library website which show how the parking lot behind the children came  to be - FIRE. Not the Great Fire of 1886 that destroyed so many homes and buildings but the one that took down the First Baptist Church and torched two homes across Eaton Street. 

 

The ground breaking for the Masonic Temple at 535 Eaton Street in July 1950. Photo by Key West Photo Service.

The Masonic Temple at 535 Eaton Street looked like this before it was taken down to be a hold in the ground to be replaced by concrete block. What a site Eaton Street must have been before man and fire took down such beautiful buildings.

The hurricane of 1944 toppled trees but the beautiful homes and churches on Eaton Street survived.

President Harry Truman and Chief Justice Fred Vinson at the First Baptist Church in Key West C 1950. Jeff Brodhead Collection. You will see the completed building below. Today the building houses The Studios of Key West as well as Judy Blume's bookstore.

A Navy float in a parade passing the Baptist Church at 524 Eaton Street C 1950. Photo by Key West Photo Service.

The photos below show the  former church and the houses on the opposite side of Eaton Street the day after the nightmare on Eaton Street.

The above photo was shot from Bahama Lane looking north toward Eaton Street. The following photos show direct views of BPOE building at corner of Simonton Street and Eaton, 529 Eaton Street (now Carriage Trade Inn), 525 Eaton Street (destroyed home now parking for Simonton Court Guest House), 523 Eaton Street (one of the Simonton Court properties does not appear to show any damage). 

1957 New Church and offices being constructed

The former First Baptist Church was rebuilt using concrete block construction and 1950s architecture. The Scottish Rite Temple looks like pre-World War II design dragged into the post war building boom. Both stand today and would probably defy a fire. They did defy Hurricane Irma in 2017. That is a good thing or bad thing depending on how you feel about mid-century American architecture and concrete block construction. The old wood houses also stand today, about one hundred and fifty years after their construction. The styles and construction materials give us the option to opine in favor of one over the other.

Look backup at the locals surveying the damage to their cultural history. It is no less damaging as when we all watched the fire at Notre Dame. It was personal to them. I may write wise cracks about a lot of things in Key West, but fire is not one of them (even though I did write a wise crack a few lines above). Our little paradise is so vulnerable to fire. It truly is a nightmare.