Up next
Josh Freese Net Worth
Two condominium towers of 64 condos each will rise at Hammock Dunes, to be called the Ritz-Carlton residences, the belated culmination of a project initially approved by the Flagler County Commission in 2006 and still awaiting its final plat. The development will add to half a dozen existing and similar condominium towers at Hammock Dunes.
Though its post office address is Palm Coast, the project is not in the city but in the Hammock, an unincorporated part of Flagler County, nor is it under Palm Coast’s land regulations, or the purview of the Palm Coast City Council. A brief article in the News-Journal on Tuesday inaccurately reported that it was–and that the council would have to approve it–and referred to the project as bringing “elite luxury to Palm Coast oceanfront.” Palm Coast does not have oceanfront property.
The article caused some consternation for a council under fire for residential development policies, though this particular development was entitled two decades ago to little or non-existent opposition. Palm Coast two decades ago attempted to annex the Hammock, and with it the lucrative tax base of the Hammock Dunes development, but the attempt failed, resulting in the settlement of what was then called the “water wars” (the city claimed it had the right to annex the Hammock since it provided it water and sewer services. It still does.)
The four parcels on 6.75 acres were originally platted as Tuscany at Hammock Dunes and replatted in 2006 as South Towers at Hammock Dunes. South Towers included two proposed buildings, Arezzo Condominiums and Murano Condominiums, as they do now, but under different names and with variations to original designs.
Construction cannot start before the final replatting. “They had some adjustments that were being made, they were very minor, but it would require a replat,” Adam Mengel, Flagler County’s growth management director, said today. “We haven’t received anything with any final plat submittal from them. The next step for them is to come in with that.” Mike Chiumento, the land-development attorney representing the project designers, last communicated with the county in mid-February.
The County Commission approved the towers–which were part of the original Hammock Dunes Development of Regional Impact–when they were proposed by the developer at the time, WCI Communities, who had also proposed three 7-story buildings and 151 housing units. The project was subsequently reduced to two buildings.
At the time, Bob Cuff was the attorney representing the developer. Cuff would go on to be elected to the Palm Coast City Council in 2016. There was little public opposition to the application then, and the board recommended approval unanimously, but also reduced the units in one of the buildings to 59. Forty days later the item drew no public opposition at the County Commission, which restored the 64 units and approved the application on a 4-1 vote, with George Hanns dissenting.
“This project is the last phase of Hammock Dunes’ development,” Aventura-based BH Group’s website states of the new towers.
