Management, New Management, Sabal Palm

Tamarac’s controversial Sabal Palm project is under new management

Sunday, June 12th, 2011 - 4:08 am - Real Estate Agent

Sabal Palm, the land at the center of public corruption charges against three city officials, is under new management and closer to evolving from a defunct golf course into a community of single-family homes and townhouses.

The land was owned by father-and-son developers Bruce and Shawn Chait, who sold it for $7.3 million last month to 13th Floor Investments in Miami, according to Broward County property records. That was $2.2 million more than they paid for it in 2006.

The Chaits are on probation after pleading guilty to unlawfully compensating the now-imprisoned Josephus Eggelletion when he was a Broward County commissioner.

Jennifer Bramley, Tamarac’s community development director, said officials for 13th Floor Investments have told her they will also build residential units on the land although the final number will be fewer than the 496 originally approved.

City Manager Michael Cernech said he hopes a new plan, with more single-family homes and fewer townhouses, “will help people see that the project is ultimately a good project in spite all of the controversy behind it that has plagued that project up to this point.

“It ends a chapter, starts a new chapter,” Cernech said.

The new owners, according to their website, have bought mortgages and properties throughout South Florida, including Orchid Grove, a residential community in Pompano Beach with townhouses and undeveloped lots; and The Oaks at Hidden Harbour, a partially completed luxury waterfront residential community in Dania Beach.

No plan has been submitted to City Hall for the Tamarac property, but Robert Suris, principal of 13th Floor Investments, estimated at a recent city workshop that the project would take three to four years to complete. Suris said his firm would work with national homebuilders to determine the ultimate developer.

Bramley said the City Commission will have to approve the new, streamlined site plan.

Suris could not be reached for comment Tuesday or last week, despite repeated calls to his secretary.

The Chaits are accused of bribing Tamarac officials to vote for their project. They received permission to build 208 single-family homes and 288 townhomes on the 109-acre Sabal Palm site west of Florida’s Turnpike, and on the north and south sides of Commercial Boulevard.

Three current and former city officials face charges in connection with their dealings with the Chaits.

Mayor Beth Flansbaum-Talabisco was accused of secretly accepting $21,000 worth of help from them to boost her 2006 election campaign. Former Vice Mayor Marc Sultanof is accused of taking illegal payments of more than $30,000 for a 2006 Honda Accord from the Chaits, in exchange for votes. And, Commissioner Patricia “Patte” Atkins-Grad was arrested on charges she took $6,300 in illegal payments from the men to lease a BMW and pay for her election victory party, in exchange for voting for their project.

The Chaits still own the Monterey golf course, where they had permission to build 232 homes, south of Commercial Boulevard and adjacent to Florida’s Turnpike. Nothing has been built there and the land is for sale.

The sale of Sabal Palm doesn’t end a legal dispute between Tamarac and the Chaits. In January 2010 the Chaits sued the city after the commission denied a site plan extension for the Monterey portion of the project because the land was still undeveloped.

The commission reversed itself a week later to avoid litigation, but the Chaits didn’t drop the suit, saying the delay cost them a sale. They are seeking damages of $11 million. Cernech, the city manager, gave a deposition in the case two weeks ago.

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