Central Beach homebuyers will have some exciting new choices in the coming year as GHO Homes brings six brand-new luxury residences to market.<\/p>\n
Located on scattered lots between Camelia and Fiddlewood on both sides of Jimmy Buffett Memorial Highway, the 3,500-square-foot, single-family houses have pre-construction prices starting at $2,975,000 and going up to $3,225,000, plus lot premiums.<\/p>\n
GHO President Bill Handler says the homes are the most expensive and among the largest his company has built, and that they will reflect extensive buyer feedback and building knowledge gained at his two island subdivisions, Seaglass and the Strand.<\/p>\n
Handler has transitioned from a middle-market to an elite upscale homebuilder over the past decade or so, offering larger, more luxurious homes at higher price points to meet market demand, launching subdivisions in desirable locations in country club communities and close to the water.<\/p>\n
Homes go for up to $2.5 million at his island subdivisions and he sees the Central Beach houses as a natural extension of those successful enclaves, likening them to the concept cars auto manufactures build to stretch their design and fabrication capabilities.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is the same kind of thing we are doing in Central Beach,\u201d Handler told Vero Beach 32963. \u201cWe are stretching, pushing ourselves\u201d to offer a fresh, exciting product with the features and floorplans buyers crave.<\/p>\n
GHO is offering three models in Central Beach, but the models \u2013 which embody decades of buyer conversations and homebuilding experience \u2013 are just a starting point. The homes can be extensively customized, depending on when a buyer gets involved in the process.<\/p>\n
\u201cGHO\u2019s homebuilding program is distinguished by its ability to personalize homes through a wide range of floor plans, custom upgrades, and a streamlined process that goes beyond typical new Central Beach home offerings,\u201d says Joseph O\u2019Neill, one half of the Joseph & Joseph team at Douglas Elliman, who helped Handler select the lots and acted as his agent in the purchase transactions. \u201cThe result is a unique, customized home designed to fit each buyer\u2019s preferences while maintaining strong overall value.<\/p>\n
\u201cGHO is the only custom home developer in Central Beach I am aware of where a buyer can be involved in the design process prior to breaking ground. If they get in early enough, they can even have influence on the development of the floor plan and elevations, in addition to having hundreds of design and finish choices.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is great demand for new homes in the Central Beach, but many buyers, often from out of town, don\u2019t want to take three to six months to find a piece of land and close on it, spend three to six months designing a home and then another 12-plus months to build, often without knowing a local builder, which can overwhelm them into buying an existing home,\u201d O\u2019Neill adds.<\/p>\n
\u201cGHO\u2019s ability to offer a variety of floor plans and an efficient selection and design process allows them to deliver a custom home much more quickly, while saving an end user 3-to-6 months on finding and closing on the land.\u201d<\/p>\n
The desirability of Central Beach was a key factor in Handler\u2019s decision to build in the neighborhood. The streets between Riomar and Bethel Creek have gained tremendous cache over the past 15 years, with home values increasing as much as 1,000 percent, with no price ceiling in sight.<\/p>\n
\u201cCentral Beach has become extremely popular because you are close to restaurants, shops and the beach,\u201d says Premier Estate Properties agent George Nagy, commenting on the appeal of Handler\u2019s homes. \u201cEven with all the growth here, it is still a charming, sleepy little beach town where kids can ride their bikes around, and you can hop on your beach cruiser and go to Casey\u2019s or El Sid. There aren\u2019t too many places in Florida like this anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMany people who come in to look at our model homes on the island mention they would love to live in Central Beach, but they don\u2019t want the low ceilings and outdated floorplans,\u201d says GHO sales agent Lisa Krynski. \u201cThese houses, which come with swimming pools and screen enclosures, let them have the location and lifestyle they want.\u201d<\/p>\n
Handler says he started thinking about building spec homes in Central Beach a year ago. He pulled in O\u2019Neill to help with lot selection and analysis and, after extensive due diligence, purchased five lots, including one that will be split into two home sites.<\/p>\n
\u201cJoey was a big help,\u201d Handler says.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was born and raised in Central Beach, so I know the area street by street,\u201d says O\u2019Neill. \u201cI have represented buyers and sellers on 50-plus properties in Central Beach and also personally built and developed more than 10 custom homes in the area. Through those transactions, I have developed a deep understanding of lot values, lot configurations, zoning codes, and other development-related rules in Central Beach.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy goal in assisting GHO was to provide acquisition value by helping sort through the development opportunities\u2019 value based on location, lot size and zoning codes.\u201d<\/p>\n
GHO closed on most of the lots in November and December, paying around $900,000 per lot or teardown. Right now, all six properties are available as lot\/home packages, but Handler plans to get the ball rolling with two specs, starting construction on the first one in April.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe lots were expensive!\u201d Handler says. \u201cThat is one reason the homes start around $3 million.\u201d<\/p>\n
Three-million dollars would have been a laughable asking price for a Central Beach home 15 years ago, when you could buy a house east of A1A for less than $300,000, but the once-in-a-lifetime real estate boom that followed the COVID-19 pandemic changed that.<\/p>\n
There have been multiple Central Beach sales in the high $2 millions and low $3 millions in the past couple of years according to MLS data provided by Nagy, and those numbers don\u2019t include waterfront houses in the neighborhood, just blocks away from Handler\u2019s lots, which have sold for as much as $17 million.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was a sense of sticker shock when prices first went up [during the pandemic migration],\u201d Nagy says. \u201cBut people are beginning to understand and accept these new prices. They are becoming the norm.\u201d<\/p>\n
Island realtors mostly agree that the gentrification of Central beach will continue in coming years. Many of the houses are old and outdated, worth little compared to the value of the land they sit on. And homes are substantially undervalued compared to similar houses in Naples\u2019 central beach area and other comparable oceanside enclaves in Florida.<\/p>\n
Look on Redfin or Zillow at the beachside residential section in Naples, north and south of Central Avenue, and you will see the small blocks studded with homes on dry lots \u2013 six and eight blocks back from the ocean \u2013 priced between $4 million and $10 million, with outliers over $20 million.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are always a discount compared to Naples and Palm Beach,\u201d Handler says. \u201cThat\u2019s just the way it is, but I think we are starting to close that gap.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere continues to be increasing demand for newer homes [despite higher prices],\u201d O\u2019Neill says. \u201cBuyers are willing to pay a premium for several reasons [including lower carrying costs compared to older homes].<\/p>\n
\u201cWith new construction, annual insurance costs are much more favorable, which is a common topic of conversation with buyers on the island, and projected annual maintenance costs are far less for years to come.<\/p>\n
\u201cNew homes are required to be built above base flood elevation, and buyers really like knowing their home is built to the latest code requirements, especially as it relates to wind, storms and water.\u201d<\/p>\n
And there is nothing quite like brand new when it comes to homes.<\/p>\n
\u201cGHO will capture a lot of design elements that can\u2019t be easily recreated in a remodel \u2013 tall ceilings, tall exterior doors, larger room and closet sizes, and the ability to have generous covered outdoor areas,\u201d O\u2019Neill says.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe houses we are buying and tearing down are pretty old,\u201d Handler says. \u201cIt\u2019s probably time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Central Beach homebuyers will have some exciting new choices in the coming year as GHO Homes brings six…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":198463,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[249,251,250],"class_list":["post-198462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","tag-fort-lauderdale-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198462"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198462\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/198463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}