Historic Side Revitalization
 

What happened to the Historic Side Revitalization thread? Did it get moved or removed??? Thanks

It's right cheer.

https://www.talkofthevillages.com/fo...strict-118555/

Thanks Miss Gracie!

This is certainly a more positive title for the thread. New comments on re-building in the historic side should go here.

Excellent idea!

Our Villages Salesperson was the one who told us it was being called Historic Side Restoration. Sounds good to me!

Will it be a Trader Joe's?

That whole area needs some help. We have been over there several times lately to check out homes for a family member. Some of the areas are in very bad shape, there are some very nice areas there as well.

What does that mean??

I would like to know what areas you think are in very bad shape.

Did your salesperson go into any more detail than sharing a supposed 'project' name? Did they mention the developer specifically or if it is just the usual real estate folks buying and flipping houses?

Please remember that some of these folks, like my parents, bought these homes when they were brand new...but a lot of these folks are older now and maybe can't keep up with the upkeep and chores that go along with owning a home.

Well said. And that potential and reality is all over The Villages.

I apologize, didn't mean to offend anyone. Perhaps my statement was a bit harsh. It appears to me that in some of the areas The Villages has forgotten that they are a very important part of The Villages and should as much time and effort there as the new sections. There are lots of individual homes that could use maintenance and perhaps it is because the owners cannot keep them up. The Villages should spend money to upgrade all the recreations facilities in this area.

[QUOTE=wholman66;901377]I apologize, didn't mean to offend anyone. Perhaps my statement was a bit harsh. It appears to me that in some of the areas The Villages has forgotten that they are a very important part of The Villages and should as much time and effort there as the new sections. There are lots of individual homes that could use maintenance and perhaps it is because the owners cannot keep them up. The Villages should spend money to upgrade all the recreations facilities in this area.[/QUOTE]


It appears they are doing that.
https://www.talkofthevillages.com/fo...e-park-102403/

Historic Area
 

Here is a little information on the birth of The Villages.

Great information. Do you have dates for these adds! Just curious. We have friends whose relatives were one of the 1st 50 residents. They now have a modular home on the site.

This is one problem. Other situations that seem to happen here more frequently than in other Villages neighborhoods is that people walk away from their homes and abandon them. Or people die and either their heirs cannot be found or want nothing to do with the property.
When this happens it can sometimes take the bank or the county years before they can get through the red tape to take possession of the property and put it on the market.
These homes just sit and deteriorate. In many cases the air conditioning is not turned on in the summer as the electric has been turned off so they develop severe mold problems. Unless someone calls The Villages office to complain, the lawns are not maintained. Occasionally someone will call and complain and The Villages will send someone out to cut the grass and clean out the shrubbery. I assume that they then put a lien on the house for the cost of the work. But there are several homes, (two on my street in fact) that have been abandoned for one reason or another. Every other home on my street is well maintained with nice lawns and well kept vegetation. These two stick out like a sore thumb.
You can see this situation on several streets as you drive around the historic district. It's a shame because 98% of the homes are very nice. One percent are not well maintained because as dalecrenshaw says, the current owners cannot afford to maintain them and another 1% or so have been abandoned.
(Note: Please don't challenge my percentages. I'm sure that they are not 100% accurate. They are only guesses on my part, based on my observations, to demonstrate the state of these neighborhoods Maybe 5% of the homes are not in great shape, but it is not a lot.)
I would guess it happens more in the Historic District than it does on the other side because the owners here don't have as much money, and are operating without as much of a cushion as owners on the other side. And as dalecrenshaw says, many may have been in these homes since 1985 and inflation may have caught up with them.
The thing is that no restoration plan is going to fix these problems unless the developer intends to try to buy up these homes and either restore them or tear them down and put up something better. If that's the plan, I think that he still has to wait until the banks or county or whoever can get everything cleared to sell them.

I think if there is a restoration plan in progress, what it would be is to fix up the rec centers, pools and clubhouses and put a few more flowers around. They just did a restoration of the South Side Pool and all they really did was put up new paneling and carpeting inside the little building. They may have painted the inside of the pool, but didn't paint the deck around the which is needed. That pool, which I believe is the only one in the Villages with a hot tub, used to be open until 11:00 pm. Now it closes at dusk. We have been told that this a temporary measure but have not been given any explanation as to why. I have a feeling I will not have any more 10:30 pm hot tub sessions to help me sleep however.

The other things that are going on over here is that the Silver Lake Rec Center has been closed for renovation for about six months now, the OBH Golf Course is being totally renovated with new greens and green sites and they are doing a lot of work on OBG Country Club building and pool. Hopefully that will open soon. But as far as buying up homes and restoring or replacing them, I don't know if that is possible.

By the way, on another subject, I was at the South Side Pool yesterday and an ambassador came in and led an intruder off the property. It was pretty funny. This "thief" left the pool area grumbling about "The Friendliest Town" like he had some kind of right to be there. Everyone had a good laugh over it, but it goes to demonstrate that there are non-residents using our facilities. I think that there is probably more abuse in that pool and on this side in general which may explain some of the reasoning behind the infamous wall. About a year ago, I was in the hot tub late one night and was chatting with a few people. As I was leaving I noticed Stonecrest emblems on their golf carts.

Awesome stuff. I wish there was more stuff like this around so people would understand how this place got started.

A seminar or materials for new homeowners might be a nice thing.

Apparently, wholman66, you are not aware that the Reg'l rec center was refurbed a few years age, as graciegirl mentioned the little park was just given a beautiful face lift, the softball fields and rest rooms will have work done soon if not already completed; and then there are the rec facility improvements that the good doctor enumerated. What do you want to see on the historic side - another Eisenhower center?

We understand who we are here and we like who we are here - please don't try to change us.

Doc - Re that South Side pool - if you go and check some of the recent amenity authority committee meeting agendas/minutes I believe you will see that it and the other historic area pools were declared to have insufficient lighting for late night hours...of course the inspection was performed by men working in the daylight who made that determination!!

The comm also recently agreed to rectify the insufficient lighting and will be installing an updated and upgraded lighting system and then restoring the late hours. I don't recall a completion date for same.

1973, 1974 and 1981.

Thanks

For comparison: My grandparents bought a new site built 2 BR/1BA 900 SF plus screened Florida Room retirement home in Bayshore Gardens area of Bradenton in 1960 for $5900.

https://www.facebook.com/BayshoreGardens/photos_stream

.

I've been to that pool many times at night. I live less than 100 yards from it. I never had any problem with the lighting. I think that sometimes committees create problems where none exist.

According to Wikipedia, uSPS started using 5 digit ZIP codes in 1983. All these adds have 5 digit ZIP codes. ???

Zip codes were used in North Carolina and South Carolina in 1971. I was working for a large corporation and we had to add zips to our account records.

That is when they added the 5 digit+4 digit.
ZIP code - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

As such - justifying their existence!!!! :0

I wasn't going to say that, but I'm glad you did.

It's A Well Known Fact...
 

...that real estate over time will always...always...convert to it's highest value and best use. That's a principle that I learned during that period when I financed lots and lots of commercial real estate projects.

While the principle is always true, that may not provide much financial certainty in making a construction loan or real estate investment. That's because the principle doesn't define how long it might take for real estate to reach it's highest and best use. But if one thinks about it, there are all kinds of examples of how the principle is true. In fact, the process has been given a name...urban renewal. Such projects are common across the country, some privately financed and some financed with public funds.

With regard to our Historic District, we all know and we can all see that many of the residential structures built or placed there certainly will not last very many more years, regardless of the care and love residents invest in maintenance and repairs. Many homes will simply age and eventually the community will degrade into something less attractive than now. (By the way, over a much longer time that will also happen here in the newer parts of The Villages.)

But in the case of our Developer acting proactively to buy older and deteriorating homes in order to replace them with new structures, he's effectively begun the process of renewing the Historic District. The first homes to be rebuilt won't be the last. My guess is that many more homes with limited remaining life may be sold by their current owners and then replaced with new structures. Such "urban renewal" will be a positive thing and will renew that seminal part of our community that we know is so loved and valued, both by it's residents as well as others of us that live here in The Villages.

Very well said.

Has anyone confirmed that the developer is buying up homes and replacing them with new ones?

Heard today that several homes were purchased in June - deeds not yet recorded - revitalization will not begin until after the Villages of Fruitland Park have been completed.

Personally reviewed sales records in historic neighborhoods and found nothing in the name of the developer thru the end of May [which was the most recent deed transfers recorded.]

There are currently 17 or 18 homes for sale on the historic side, ranging in price from $90,000 to $155,000, listed with The Villages alone. It doesn't seem like there is much of a profit margin for a buyer to pay these prices, remove the home and build new. The asking price of these homes is anywhere from two to five times the value of the lot.

There are some homes that have perhaps been abandoned and fallen into disrepair, but by and large, I prefer the comfy, quiet, and gently worn feel of the historic side -- lawn ornaments, orange and lavender house colors, overgrown bushes and all. I would be sad to see that laid-back vibe replaced by new homes. But that's just me, and it would take a couple of decades, so it's not exactly keeping me up nights. The frequent bathroom trips do that.

"regardless of the care and love residents invest in maintenance and repairs"

I do not believe that part to be true. Well maintained manufactured home will last as long as stick built homes.

That is exactly right. Commonsense.

I agree. More commonsense. I bet it took longer to build some of the manufactured homes on the historic side than it takes to build some of the new stick built.

I know of a home that burned down. The owner replaced it with a beautiful manufactured home at least twice the size of the old home. The cost of the new home including landscaping, new concrete driveways, walkways and patios, as well as installation and water. sewer and electric hookups was $86,000.

Home that are completely worthless over here sell for a minimum of $39,000 unless there is an absolute auction. $39,000 is the value of the lot. My house is insured for it's value less $39,000.

So, if you buy for $39,000, and rebuild for and additional $86,000 you'll have invested $125,000. Looking at the house that I know of I would say that it would sell for considerably more than that. The highest priced manufactured home that I see on The Villages.com is $167,000. I would think that the owner of this new home would get at least that.