Stillwater Shores is emblematic of how hard it is to find good land at the right price. Having built and developed so many subdivisions in Davie I became very skilled in land values. Any Seller can ask whatever price they want for their land and they usually do. I chased this parcel for 3 years until I was able to buy the land at what I thought it was worth based on my Davie knowledge base. So, I gave the owner a standing offer which 3 years later he accepted. Then and there I knew we had a success on our hands. You see the real profit in any real estate deal is in the land price. Get that wrong and you will be building for wages and overhead.
The land of muck– I sometimes refer to Davie and SW Broward that way. The soils are a huge part of any project. Before we closed, we did twice as many soil borings as we would normally do in other locations-Palm Beach County for example. We establish a “soils mixing plan” in order to minimize de-mucking but keeping enough strength in the soil to support our big homes. It worked to perfection.
Big time drainage requirements– SW Broward land is low and drainage is tricky. Whenever you have more than 10 acres your wet retention requirement is at least 25%. Stillwater was 20 acres so we needed 5 acres of lakes to satisfy Central Broward Drainage District. Our land planner designed an efficient and desirable site plan making sure each of the 20 homesites was lake front. Hello lot premiums.
Homes and Buyers– Stillwater had stunning homes with spacious floorplans. With 5 models to chose from the homes ranged in size from 3200sf to 5000sf under air with 3 car garages. Pricing began at $1.2 million to $1.6 million with an array of optional upgrades. Sales were brisk and the demographics was typical wide open Davie style. With so many colleges, the Dolphins training camp, hospitals and foreign buyers in the Davie area your neighborhood has a very diverse mix.
We had 4 professional football players purchase, a couple of Doctors from near by hospitals and one lady from Russia that duplicated our Chaparral model right down to the trim accents at our Marin Ranches development in Cooper City. Sales of estate sized homes have always been popular in the Davie market because lot sizes are generally mandated by the density sensitive restrictions for builders/developers imposed by the town.
Stephen Gravett has been a real estate developer for over 45 years and was most recently CEO of Kennedy Homes for the past 11 years and is still CEO of Kennedy Development Partners (KDP) and full time Director of Operations for 5 Star Developers. He is also a state licensed broker and since 1980 a State licensed General Contractor Unlimited. He flew B-52’s in the US Air Force during the Vietnam war.
StephenGravett.com 