The Country records did confirm a sale to "House 55, LLC", and a search of Florida Records did lead me to discover that this company was owned by a man named Djmal, who also appeared to hold titles with several real estate development entities.
I was intrigued enough to travel way south to FDOT offices in Kendall to review the entire file. Apparently, Mr. Djmal began his odyssey by posing as a realtor and telling FDOT that he had a "client interested in purchasing the parcel." [source: email dated October 7, 2013].
From that point on Djmal's "client" disappeared, and on October 9, 2013 Djmal wrote Vince Reuben (FDOT Property Management Administrator): "It is difficult to explain on an email why we would be willing go to [sic] this extent just for a small parcel of land, but it has to do with the interest some people like myself have in remaining in the neighborhood and be close to our loved ones There is not much land available to live in skylake ..."
Well, not much land maybe, but plenty of existing homes to buy and renovate!
On the same day (10/9/2013), one of the FDOT Engineers had written in a letter in the file "I consider that the triangular vacant land serves as retention when heavy rainstorm events occur in the area, which eventually discharges to the wet pond. I would not take the risk of selling this vacant land."
This was a hurdle, but not an insurmountable one. From the FDOT's file summary notes: "After several months going back in fourth [sic!] Drainage agreed to not have an objection as long Applicant [sic] complies w/ several stipulations addressed on surplus comments."
So Djmal had convinced FDOT to sell him the land, but for what price? Well, FDOT apparently asked the proposed BUYER to tell them the price. This is where things get a little astounding. Imagine you are shopping for a house, and you go to a showing and like what you see, and when you ask the price, the seller tells you to go and get an appraisal and tell THEM what the price is. So in those circumstances, wouldn't you, as the person PAYING the appraiser, expect them to appraise the property for the lowest amount possible? Most reasonable people would, but not the FDOT.
Let's stop here for a second to consider this: If you are reading this post and live "West of Aventura", what do you think the size of your parcel is? If it's a 50x100' lot, it would be .11 acres. A 100x100' lot is .23 acres, and there are not many lots that large in our area. So most of us live on less than 1/4 acre. Next, consider what you think the value of that land is. There have been plenty of tear-down houses sold in the area the last few years, and even a home in the worst possible shape is worth about $300K. So, if a 1/4 acre lot is worth about $300K, then a parcel 1.65 acres in size (over SIX 1/4 lots) should be worth about 6 x $300K, right? That's $1,800,000.
So FDOT, our State government, should have pocketed a decent amount of money, to fix our roads and highways, and make those horrible express lanes safer, right? They would have posted notices on the property announcing its sale, right? They would have sold it in an open and public process, correct?
No, No and No.
Djmal, who to his credit is no idiot, got his appraiser (Callaway & Price, Inc.), to prepare an estimate of the 1.65 acre parcel, and in their seasoned and "unbiased" opinion, "the Market Value of the Fee Simple Estate of the Subject Property as of June 25, 2014 was: $165,000". That's $165,000 for SIX, virgin, 1/4 acre lots surrounded by some of the most valuable enclaves in our community: Coventry, Oak Hammock, Chateaux, where a vacant lot would probably we worth much more than the $300,000 I cited earlier - more like $500K++.
FDOT posted ONE notice of sale, and here it is:
Just a tiny little ad in a publication most of you probably never even heard of. Published only ONE day, and ZERO signs posted on the property itself, and no onsite auction.
So it shouldn't be surprising to hear how many people showed up to bid at the auction: just one - Mr. Djmal. On January 26, 2015 at 10:00am in a Conference Room at the FDOT, a single sealed bid was opened, and the winning bid was $255,000. Six 1/4 acre vacant lots for the price of one, or what I call it (as a local expert in realty sales): "The Steal of the Century."
The winner?: Djmal is said to be in talks with Chateau to expand that development onto this parcel. He will make millions. Apparently just as he had no "client" in his introduction to FDOT, he also has no "loved ones unable to find homes in Skylake," and will just have to settle for anyone else willing to plunk $1-2M for one of the mansions that will soon populate the 1.65 acres.
The losers?: Anyone who drives a car in the State of Florida - FDOT did us all a disservice by failing to hold a well-publicized and open sale. Need proof?: how many people in our area would have paid more than $255,000 for a 1.65 acre lot?! I know I would have begged, borrowed and stole to have the kind of opportunity I could retire on, for a multiple of $255,000.
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