Retirement News : Seniors : Ahead of sale, seniors moving

Ahead of sale, seniors moving

Date Added: 04-08-2005

BRADENTON - While moving vans arrive at Riverpark Senior Residence and carry elderly inhabitants off to new homes, eight potential buyers wait in the wings, ready to convert the historic building into condominiums.

It won't be an easy job retrofitting the aging building, and one best left to an experienced historic restoration specialist, says Blake Thompson, a St. Petersburg developer familiar with Riverpark.

The pink landmark building, host to presidents and crime kingpins after its grand 1926 opening, most recently served as an assisted living facility downtown.

The facility's 105 residents learned two weeks ago that their home would be sold for condominium conversion.

More than half of the residents have found new homes in advance of the Oct. 1 deadline, said Matthew Bowes, Riverpark's marketing director.

Riverpark was known in the industry for having some of the area's lowest rates for assisted living.

Several Manatee County facilities have cooperated in price-matching, honoring Riverpark residents' leases for the remainder of their terms.

Summerfield Retirement Residence, one of the county's most expensive facilities, was one facility that stepped up, along with Cordia Commons and Palmetto Guest House.

Bowes described the atmosphere at Riverpark as upbeat.

"This generation has been through so much, it's hard to shock them," he said. "They've been through many wars and seen many things throughout their lives. Moving doesn't end their world."

There are seven or eight potential buyers, none of which are local, according to Bill Theroux, executive director of the downtown development authority.

Peter Fischbach, a Pinellas County developer who is converting St. Petersburg's historic Snell Arcade into condominiums, hoped to buy the building.

Fischbach's arrest Thursday on charges that he misappropriated funds from a construction loan takes him out of the running as a buyer, Riverpark manager Tom Bowes said.

Fearing the loss of affordable housing, Manatee County resident Linda Francis would like to see the city and county purchase the building and allow the elderly to continue living there.

"There are opportunities out there for low-cost housing where the government does work with private enterprise," Francis said. "I think the county and city are missing a golden opportunity."

Competing with private enterprise is not the government's business, Theroux said, adding that the city and county don't possess the level of expertise needed to remodel a historic building.

"The risk is exacerbated when you're trying to convert an older facility into something useful today versus new construction," Theroux said. "We've got enough trouble patching the holes in the streets."

Theroux predicts the building will sell within 90 days.

A Pinellas-based lawyer and developer, Thompson has been involved in two Manatee County projects, and said he found the going tough. Whoever buys the building has their work cut out for them from several perspectives, he said.

The restoration promises pitfalls in trying to retrofit things that no longer exist, like water heaters to heat the building and weird elevator configurations.

"Everything I've done in Bradenton has been difficult," Thompson said. "From what I've seen, it's a very difficult redevelopment situation with the city. They're overloaded. There's parking issues downtown."

Not that he wouldn't want to work with the county.

"It's only going to be on an invitation basis," he said.

Fischbach, who faces fraud charges, partnered with Thompson on a project to build townhomes along Beach Drive in St. Petersburg, according to the St. Petersburg Times.

The pair secured a $900,000 loan. Between January 2004 and January 2005, more than $100,000 in checks unconnected with the Beach Drive development were written to the Snell Arcade project, according to the Times. Fischbach said he regrets that he won't be involved with Riverpark.

"I'm having a terrible time with financing, so I'm going to have to wait until a miracle happens," Fischbach said. "I hope somebody does something great with it. It's an absolutely beautiful building. I love it."

For More Information:

http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/business/12290043.htm