Florida Agenda

By DALE MADISON

Remind realtor Gary Lanham that the real estate market has changed and he will look at you and laugh. “No joke, Dale, where have you been?” he asks with mock astonishment. After Hurricane Wilma in 2005, things have not been good for most real estate professionals.

Yet, some agents and realtors have found a way to turn things around. Real Estate broker Gary Lanham is one of those. After working in the health care industry for most of his life, several years ago—in Lanham’s words–“I got burned out.” A longtime friend of local realty mogul Carl Marzola, he was approached by the realtor in 2004 about obtaining his license and “hanging it” at Marzola’s Atlantic Properties International.

“Things changed dramatically after Wilma,” recalls Lanham. “Sellers were abundant. It was the height of the market. Buyers were skittish to say the least,” he adds. “While buyers–and sellers, for that matter– were the higher end of the market, everyone in real estate felt the pinch.”

L a n h a m decided that it was time to start his own brokerage, and 14 months ago he did, with a twist. Viewing the market, he realized that there was a segment that was not getting much attention: those who were in trouble. “Upside-down is how most see this unlikely phenomenon,” Lanham admits.

A market that was once doubling or tripling in value is now shrinking, with banks camped out on door steps waiting to foreclose. Lanham saw an opportunity. “Let’s help people by working with the seller, the bank, and , and hopefully a buyer, to make it so that everyone is a winner, rather than someone losing all that they have worked for years to obtain,” he offers. With that knowledge, he founded Real Estate Recovery. According to Lanham, the banks became far more willing to work with owners in 2011, and so far in 2012, they have remained willing to work with those who are struggling.

“Most of our clients are coming from New York, Boston, Brazil, Columbia, and Venezuela,” Lanham reports. He has also focused on South Florida’s LGBT market, utilizing Realtor.com, among other media. “Let’s face it, who wants to be in the snow up north when you could be spending time on the white sands of South Florida?” he asks. Lanham’s philosophy starts at home.

“I really watch out for my agents,” he says. “Keeping them busy and happy is a priority.” Several months ago, Lanham’s mother became ill. When he went north to care for her, he monitored the business online. “Anytime a lead came in, I would rotate it through and ask ‘can you make contact with this potential client?’ If they said ‘yes,’ great. If not, no problem, I would move it on to the next agent, but the agency ran just as if I were there. We are technology-driven.” notes Lanham.

Lanham advises homeowners to consider all of their options should the specter of foreclosure loom over their home and property. “Many of those who are in foreclosure think they can just walk away with no repercussions,” he reports. But this is not the entire story.

“Banks have up to 20 years to come back to collect any shortfall if you don’t work with someone on an ‘approved’ short sale. And they will do everything they can to enforce that.”

Redevelopment Means; One City’s Loss is Anothers Gain

By BOB KECSKEMETY

A major redevelopment that was designed for the area south of Five Points on Dixie Highway in Wilton Manors has been moved to Oakland Park’s redevelopment Main Street area.

According to the architect, Edward Tokarcik, two individual clients wanted a new building in Wilton Manors. One is an owner of a gymnasium who wanted to move to a new location and the other, an owner of a movie theater. The original plan was to redevelop the area on the east side of Dixie Highway from N.E. 24 Court to N.E. 12 Avenue and east to the Florida East Coast Railway tracks.

Also in the planning were a drive-through gourmet restaurant and a parking garage.

The project started out as two individual clients looking for a building in Wilton Manors and it then turned into a three-block urban renewal project and was looking to expand beyond that. At this point, I don’t think any of the projects are going forward.

They were all very interconnected to each other. Tokarcik, a resident of Wilton Manors, was disappointed that the project could not go forward.

“We worked out the design concepts and worked with a design firm and we spoke with two developers and their prices were close,” said Tokarcik. But the project fell through. “Either the lots were too expensive – they were bought at the height of the market – and you can’t get parking, you can’t pass the parking requirements. And I actually designed a 500-car garage and when that did not go forward, nothing could go forward. There were other small stores across the street, none of which were making it because of the lack of parking.”

The gymnasium owner, which was originally planned south of N.E. 24 Street on Dixie Highway, wanted his gym to be set apart from any others. He wanted an upscale four-floor gym complex in a building people would want to go to. The ground floor would have the main entrance and a café, the second floor would have the weight lifting equipment and exercise machines, the third floor would have open workout areas as well as a swimming pool and the top level would be a sundeck. There would have been 25,000 square feet of usable space.

A movie complex would have a 500-car parking garage in the back. On top of the parking garage, there would be space for a club or restaurant. Tokarcik estimated that if the parking garage would have been kept full, parking fees would have carried the whole project financially.

The drive-through gourmet restaurant was still in the early planning stages when the project was scrubbed.

However, new life was brought to Tokarcik’s dream was when he met with Gary Lanham of Real Estate Recovery, an Oakland Park real estate firm which has helped lead the way in redeveloping Oakland Park’s “Main Street,” which spans further north on North Dixie Highway from Oakland Park Boulevard to N.E. 38 Street.

Tokarcik’s projects could be the anchors of the redevelopment of the west side of Dixie Highway in Oakland Park.

“Oakland Park is a different city than Wilton Manors. Oakland Park is a huge city – downtown is 150 acres.

It’s a huge amount of space and, working from the cultural point of view, you can create different main streets in different parts of Oakland Park and I think that by claiming this section as the gay center, you can create a lot of different things happening,” said Tokarcik.

Tokarcik explained that when he graduated and got his degree from Harvard University, he worked in Harvard’s academic department as projects coordinator. There he coordinated projects between architecture, urban design, city planning and landscape architecture. That’s where he realized how things are so interrelated and that, by efficiently coordinating everything together, a city could be picked up cheaper and faster than by any other means.

“In Oakland Park, you have to look at sites very differently,” said Tokarcik. “You have to see what works and one of the worst problems is you have a main street section which is not only divided by a highway but also railroad tracks. But what you have to benefit from is a huge amount of space. If it’s properly designed and properly managed by getting the proper mix of things here, we can have a real destination spot to bring people to the downtown area. That’s the real beauty of it.”

Tokarcik explained that a lot of demolition of existing buildings on the west side of Dixie Highway is unnecessary. “I kind of like these commercial/industrial-type block buildings,” he said, “because you can actually provide them with artistic-type endeavors inexpensively and they’re big. A lot of them have loading docks and parking. It really makes sense to work with the existing fabric when you can and just develop the character from that.”

Tokarcik said he thinks Oakland Park has the ability to grow beyond what Wilton Manors has already done for the gay community – just expand upon it in a different way. He says he doesn’t want to repeat what has already been done in Wilton Manors. “I’ve met many people that want more than what’s here now. They don’t know exactly ‘that’ is, but people have voiced to me that something’s missing. That’s why an arts and cultural center of town, just places that really work and keeping it inexpensive – and not over building. I always thought Oakland Park would be the next big place.”

By BOB KECSKEMETY

With The Community Marketing Panel, Inc.’s, LGBT Consumer Panel saying that the buying power of U.S. Gays and Lesbians is expected to exceed $835 billion in 2011, the City of Oakland Park

is asking, “What can we do for you?”

Leading that “Welcome to Oakland Park” are Gary Lanham and Jeff Yunis of Real Estate Recovery, located on N.E. 12 Avenue in Oakland Park. “Our vision for Real Estate Recovery is a broad one of single family homes, multi-family condominiums as well as the commercial market,” said Lanham

Lanham explains the natural progression from Wilton Drive north to Oakland Park: “I tell people to take a look at Wilton Drive from the Dairy Queen north towards Five Points where the new Wachovia Bank is going in. The City of Oakland Park begins at the canal next to the Publix at Five Points on Dixie Highway and considers Main Street Oakland Park to be North Dixie Highway from Oakland Park Boulevard to Jaco Pastorius Park at N.E. 38 Street. (Jaco Pastorius Park is where the annual PrideFest is held every spring.)

Oakland Park is currently pouring money into the area courtesy of the Community Redevelopment Act. The urban redevelopment runs from N.E. 12 Terrace west across Dixie Highway to N.E. 5 Avenue. The city is bringing additional services into the area, including underground fiber optic telecommunication lines, underground electrical lines and the addition of sidewalks and moregreen spaces as a way to stimulate a whole new type of environment.

Oakland Park already has the Peter Pan Diner and, though not a gay restaurant, has a huge gay following. G-Resort is planning on building their resort and there is currently a bid on a large apartment building on Oakland Park Boulevard just east of Dixie Highway with plans to turn that into a high-end gay guest house.

They say that the concept is to take advantage of the high gay population of Wilton Manors and combine it with the high gay population of Oakland Park, which is larger as Oakland Park is a much larger city. Plus there is a big push for the gay vacation dollar.

“We also have the advantage of the vacation travel dollar,” said Yunis. “That helps support all of this. That’s important and to me; that’s why Oakland Park and Wilton Manors are going to be long term.”

“People don’t come here to die,” said Yunis. “They come here for a second life.”

Yunis himself moved here 4 years ago. He’s previously a developer who has built, among other things, shopping centers and officebuildings. He says he first came here for the beach and warm weather but appreciates that wherever he goes in Broward County, he can be himself. “Whether I go to a restaurant on U.S. 1 or one in Wilton Manors, it’s all available to me. I don’t have to be a gay man – I’m just another man here.”

They are also trying to attract different types of businesses to Oakland Park. They feel that some of the businesses that would thrive in Oakland Park would be a cooking school, a kinetic art gallery, a community gardening center, a yoga studio, a health food store, small, yet upscale grocery store and, as they described, vintage anything.

Lanham and Yunis feel their job is to come up with ideas and contact companies and show them that Oakland Park is anattractive option. They would also like to be the ‘go-to” people for people who have business ideas. “There are so many different ways to approach business in this kind of economy,” said Lanham.

“In this economy, people are learning to be more resourceful and taking advantage of spending down instead of spending up. And self-sufficiency is becoming more important. So, I think if we can actively recruit and attract businesses that are going to allow people to somehow learn something, or be a part of something bigger than themselves, that’s going to be part of the success formula,” said Lanham.

Real Estate Recovery is also looking toward partnering with organizations with common goals. They currently have a relationship with the Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church and the Poverello Center. “We want to be a good neighbor, not just a business,” said Lanham. “As a small company, our values are your values and we can support each other. When you’re looking for a house or advice on a business setting, we’re your team.”

“The investment dollars going into Oakland Park and Wilton Drive are all part of the growth that will be a major benefit to long-term residents – gay or straight. That’s what a community is, it’s a mix of all types of people being together,” concluded Lanham.

Photo: Jeff Yunis and Gary Lanham  of Real Estate Recovery

Oakland Park Celebrates Re-Birth

Oakland Park Mayor Allegra Webb Murphy and Real Estate
Recovery’s Gary Lanham.

BY BOB KECSKEMETY

First it was northeast Fort Lauderdale, then Wilton Manors and now it’s Oakland Park’s turn. The city of approximately 45,000 people over 6.9 square miles is celebrating a rebirth of sorts since Hurricane Wilma damaged much of the city in 2005.

Last week, the city celebrated the opening of Real Estate Recovery offices under the leadership of Gary Lanham. Part of the purpose of the office will be to make Oakland Park a more welcoming place to live, work and play. The offices, located on NE 12 Avenue just north of Oakland Park Boulevard, is in the heart of the current redevelopment area of Oakland Park known as the city’s Main Street Downtown Redevelopment Project.

The City of Oakland Park recently invested $4.3 million to beautify NE 12 Avenue and NE 12 Terrace in its downtown district known as Main Street. The beautification project included new decorative lighting, attractive street furniture, lush landscaping, paved sidewalks and walkways and plazas with pergolas and fountains.

Oakland Park used a $6 million open space grant to develop a park in the downtown district that opened in 2008. The park was named for the late Jaco Pastorious, a hometown son and a world renowned bassist. This 7-acre park is the northern crown jewel of the downtown district and home to major events like the annual Oktoberfest celebration and this weekend’s PrideFest gay pride festival.

Oakland Park has adopted a downtown master plan and zoning regulations for landscape planting, signage and graphics – and parking and traffic patterns. These modifications are intended to encourage mixed-use and pedestrian-friendly development in the downtown district.

Earlier this year, G-Resorts announced that they had scrapped their plans of building their new resort on the corner of N.E. 15 Avenue and N.E. 26 Street in Wilton Manors and instead would be interested in building the resort on the southern end of N.E. 12 Avenue in Oakland Park.

“We are trying to promote gay businesses, this [Real Estate Recovery] is a gay-owned business,” said Lanham. “We’re going to have a lot of gay-owned businesses in the neighborhood. We’re going make sure people understand, it’s not just about Wilton Manors anymore.” Lanham’s home is located only a few blocks away, also in Oakland Park.

Oakland Park maintains a public-private partnership with Oakland Park Main Street, a private non-profit to assist with marketing the downtown district and helping business owners navigate through city code regulations and ordinances.

Oakland Park Main Street is responsible for creating a distinctive image and a development-friendly environment for downtown Oakland Park. The organization promotes downtown as a traditional commercial center with a vibrant mix of culture; mainly through organizing all major events on Main Street.

Oakland Park also wants to promote itself as being more business-friendly than other cities in the area. Several years ago, the City of Oakland Park created a Community Redevelop-ment Agency to act as a liaison between the city’s bureaucracy and the business community. If there are any problems with permitting, inspections, etcetera, a business is encouraged to contact the CRA who can work directly with the permitting department, building department, fire marshal and other agencies to get the paperwork moving through the system.

“It was just a matter of six weeks from the time I got my permits to now, the time I’m open,” said Lanham. “This is the amazing part. Everybody from the permit people to the permit police stood in line and they were very cooperative and they walked us through the entire process. There’s always the possibility of issues but we try to iron them out as soon as possible.”

“I’m very excited about what’s going on here in Oakland Park,” said Oakland Park Mayor Allegra Webb Murphy. “It’s time for our city to redevelop the downtown area. We’ve got new people, young people, moving into our area and these young people are full of energy and vibrancy. And they deserve a downtown area which is equally full of energy.”