- April 26, 2024
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Flagler County has already filed suit against the former owners of the derelict hotel property at 2251 Old Dixie Highway. Now it might sue the new owners as well.
First Choice Investments bought the property last May and proposed an aggressive timeline to construct a new hotel called The Henry, named after Henry Flagler. But they've fallen behind schedule.
They were expected to finish certain elements of the project by Aug. 20, or, if they were unable to, to give the county a $250,000 cash deposit. But they've done neither, Assistant County Attorney Sean Moylan told county commissioners at a Nov. 1 meeting.
The deposit was supposed to both incentivise the owners to complete the job, and to give the county money to use to demolish the building if the owners left it unfinished. First Choice Investments has submitted a new timeline for the work and asked if the County Commission would be willing to reduce the $250,000 deposit.
The owners' reasoning, Moylan said, is that they've already mitigated most of the nuisances associated with the former hotel building — for instance, by filling in the pool and removing litter and debris — and, therefore, the cost of demolition would be less than $250,000. They've proposed seeking a new demolition estimate from a contractor and using that amount as the deposit amount, Moylan said.
The County Commission isn't interested.
"It does take care of the demolition part, but it doesn't cover the incentive part," Commissioner Greg Hansen said.
Commissioner David Sullivan said that the hotel First Choice Investments has said its building will be costly, and if a $250,000 deposit is causing problems, he's concerned that First Choice won't be able to follow through on its plans.
Other commissioners were also unwilling to waive the contract requirements.
The county has an ongoing nuisance suit against the former owners of the property and could add the new owners to that suit with a claim for breach of contract, asking that the court require First Choice Investments to adhere to the contract's requirements, Moylan said.
The commission instructed the county attorney's office to move forward with that plan.
