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Beach real estate booms in price and popularity
Demand spurs ‘Condo Hotel Facilities’ which side-step residential cap
By Vici Papajohn
Splash! Magazine
Driving around on Pensacola Beach in the weeks after Hurricane Ivan, many locals were heard to question if the beach could ever recover. How could we who love the water and live so near it ever trust it again? And who in their right mind would come to town and purchase a home in an area so vulnerable?
The answer has come in, a mere five months later, with a resounding note of confidence for waterfront living and all it entails -- including the threat of storms!
“From what I can see, prices are continuing to appreciate on the beach, even after the storm,” assures Conna O’ Donovan, Realtor. “On the beach, those buying represent a mix of buyers who are investors, people looking for second homes, and locals moving up to greater investments of condos, lots and houses. All are consistently appreciating on the beach, in Gulf Breeze and Navarre and in Pensacola.”
 | | Artist renderings above and right, reflect the design of the 17-story Condo Hotel tower which will break ground this summer, and will be connected to the Hilton Garden Inn. |
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“Sound front lots are now keeping pace with gulfside lots, nearly doubling in the last year alone,” concludes O’Donovan. “ People want to secure their piece of the action. The market is not slowing down.”
Some out-of-towners have come to town, looking for post-storm purchases, hoping to take advantage of the recent devastation and expecting prices to be low. They are not finding a devastated market , but a determined market actually growing in its appeal.
“We are getting a lot of interest from out of state buyers who have heard about our area’s devastation,” explains Realtor/Broker Sherlynn Waghalter, Remax on the Coast. “But our area residents are hanging in there, digging in, staying strong and reparing their property. I am proud of my neighbors on Pensacola Beach and in Gulf Breeze who have suffered great loss, but they are staying strong. The only properties selling below market are those “for sale by owner” who are unaware of the strong market and the true value of their property.”
John Pinzino, Realtor/Broker, Island View Realty of Pensacola Beach, agrees that business is great. “Prices and demand are going up. We are still the best buy in Northwest Florida, and the best time to buy was yesterday,” he says with a characteristic chuckle. “There are deals to be made, though. It is very encouraging that the Pensacola-area MLS median sale was $130,000 a year ago, and the area averages $190,000 now.”
And if buyers are concerned by growing size and price of beach property, they can take heart in the availability of condo hotel facilities now coming on the market which are limited in size and use, but which allow a foothold in the booming market.
Roger Weigner, President and Broker, Surf and Sand Realty, sees the Hilton Garden Inn Luxury Condo Hotel to be break ground this summer offering 92 gulf front condos as a viable alternative to traditional condo ownership. Ranging in size from 648 to 1385 square feet, the units sell like a condo, are financed like a condo, but are operated as hotel units for 50 weeks of the year.
“About 40% of the units are being bought by locals,” Weigner encourages. “This market continues to be dynamic and still has appeal to locals and outside investors.”
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