[Villages Kahuna]

Originally Posted by obxgal

Reader & Partners is a full service real estate development firm with offices in Orlando and Raleigh. The firm actively manages many forms of community and land development with projects in Orlando, Tampa and North Carolina. We are a team of seasoned professionals with over 67 years of experience in all aspects of development from entitlement to vertical construction. Passionate and purposeful about development we place our emphasis on creating successful projects in the market and achieving strong economic returns for our clients. Every plan, every detail, is reviewed with a dedication to excellence.
Reader & Partners, LLC: Private Company Information - Businessweek
Community and Land Development | Reader and Partners
On their "Current Projects" page, the Wildwood Springs community is mentioned along with may others

Did you ever think that the Reader "partners", might have a sufficient financial investment to make them controlling partners in the project?

Someone made the point earlier in this thread that the Morses don't get involved in projects that they don't control. I think that's correct.

Reader's own website says that their work..."focuses specifically on land and the vertical opportunities it can create in each project.

• Capture market opportunities for each project
• Incorporate best practices for planning and design in all aspects
• Develop detailed financial models for each project
• Achieve the most favorable and flexible entitlement conditions
• Provide strategic management of land assets on a day-to-day basis
• Oversee the coordination and implementation of infrastructure
• Market and complete the sale of sites/parcels/project to 3rd party buyers
• Create opportunities for vertical investments with potential 3rd party partners"

Does it say anywhere in there that they're builders? All the principals in Reader came from Crosland Real Estate. You may recall that the Morse's hired Crosland to do all the leasing of their commercial property in and around The Villages several years ago. All the parties here know each other quite well. Did you ever think that Reader might have been hired to do all the front end work to get Wildwood Springs approved for building? Then they could do what they say their business is, "market and complete the sale of the project to 3rd party buyers". What better opportunity might there be for someone else to come in and buy the project, then complete the development. There might even be reasons why that 3rd party might like Reader to front the project, keeping thier name out of the development for the time being. In fact, there's nothing that says that the 3rd party doesn't already own the land and has just contracted with Reader to do the front end work.

I think we all know who is very capable of completing a development like Wildwood Springs.

I'm just thinkin'.

[asianthree]

remember Disney had many companies buying property for his future Disney World, so the prices would not be driven up by people thinking that just one man was the buyer