Orange Beach will have to wait a bit longer to learn the outcome of a current debate over whether a new condo development project can go forward. Currently and Orange Beach covenant restricts development of nine beach front properties to single-family homes. If the decision is in favor of the development of more beach front condos, the developer plans to move ahead with two water front condominium towers, each of them over 300 feet tall.
From the Associated Press
BAY MINETTE, Ala. - A judge has delayed a ruling on whether two planned Gulf-front condominium towers more than 300 feet tall are blocked by a decades-old covenant restricting the beach property to single-family homes.
Developer Larry Wireman, who already is building two Turquoise Place condo towers 310 and 370 feet tall, contends the covenants, placed by property owners between 1955 and 1966, are borne of "horse and buggy days" and are no longer relevant to the Orange Beach beach front.
Baldwin County Circuit Judge James Reid said he would have to rule on a separate civil case that went to trial during the summer before ruling on the one he heard over the last two days in Bay Minette.
The AmSouth Bank-managed estate of an Orange Beach family and a surf side hotel claim to control 40-year-old covenants that limit development of nine beach parcels that make up the proposed condo site. They contend that Wireman and the lots' owners will profit tremendously if the restrictions are lifted. The lawsuit's defendants, the Carl and Jessie Martin estate and owners of the Island House Hotel, asked Reid to order compensation if he annuls the restrictions.
Wireman and the landowners contend that maintaining beach houses on the stretch is unrealistic. The defendants contend that the restrictions are still pertinent in protecting the defendants' other holdings in the area. Removal of the restrictions is worth millions to Wireman and the landowners who have contracted with the developer to sell their lots for $55,000 per waterfront foot.
Appraiser Les Farmer was hired by the defendants' lawyers to determine the lots' value if they were developed with condo towers versus their value if construction were limited to a single home per parcel.
Farmer testified Tuesday and said the land was worth about $22,000 per waterfront foot - or about $20 million for all 928 feet with the development restriction. He said it would bring between $69,000 and $75,000 per front foot - or about $70 million - with high-rise condos.