I left for vacation in Dominican Republic on February 9. A couple of days before it I received a call from Derek Catron, staff writer for our News-Journal. He Googled Marina Grande on the Halifax and saw a series of my blogs about this condo development in Holly Hill, Daytona Beach area.
We chatted about Marina Grande and its chances to rebound considering the fact that there finally was a new owner, and that new owner was the one, who started this project years ago – Swerdlow Group.
I knew that Swerdlow Group was doing due diligence. We were all anxious to 
know when it would become official.
After the property was offered for sale, all unsold 414 units in two 25-story towers, plus vacant commercial/retail component, generated quite some interest. There were at least 5 groups that showed some degree of interest in the project. I knew all 5 of them. With one group I worked closely on the prices, but they did not win it.
Swerdlow Group was the most motivated and aggressively pursued the deal. And they are the best thing that could happen to Marina Grande for simple reason: they have control of the remaining land of the project, and they are willing to complete this ambitious project, even if it means waiting for the market to really warm up.
Anyway, I left for Dominican Republic and the warm weather and the fun pushed it to the background and finally I checked the newspaper yesterday, and noticed Derek Catron’s article “Marina Grande sees new life with old developer”, which was published February 9.
Derek interviewed Brett Dill, President of Swerdlow Group. He also used some fragments of our discussion there. Information by Swerdlow Group that prices will start from under $200K were good news to me, as previously I was told they were higher. I think this is the right thing to do in this market, but this is really a no brainer.
I know that Brett Dill has thought about the market and how he plans to overcome its weakness. Who said that you can’t swim against the current? But it is much more difficult. We will see what the future has in store for Marina Grande on the Halifax in Holly Hill, Daytona Beach area.
At this point I am glad that Swerdlow Group is back. The Prince is back. Cinderella has waited long enough...
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