Wednesday, August 05, 2009

"It's Almost Like A Scary Movie" Says Unit Owner As Weak Sales Leave Family With 32-Story, 200-Unit Florida Condo Tower All To Themselves

In Fort Myers, Florida, CBS News reports:
  • The Vangelakos' southwest Florida condominium has marble floors, a large pool overlooking a river and modern furnishings that speak of affluence and luxury. What they don't have in the 32-story building is a single neighbor. The New Jersey family of five purchased their unit four years ago, when Fort Myers was in the midst of a housing boom and any hints of an impending financial crisis were buried in lofty dreams of expansion and development.

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  • Most of the other tenants in the 200-unit condo didn't close on their contracts, and the few that did have transferred to an adjacent building owned by the same company because more people live there. The Vangelakos' mortgage lender will not allow them to do the same. That leaves them as the sole residents of the Oasis Tower One.

  • "It's a beautiful building," said their attorney, John Ewing, who is representing 27 others who made deposits on units. "The problem is, it's a very lonely building." When the Vangelakos' travel from Weehawken, N.J., to spend a week or a few days in their Florida home, they have exclusive use of the pool, game room and gym, but they miss having a few tenants around. "Being from the city, it's very eerie," Vangelakos said. "It's almost like a scary movie."

For more, see 1 Family Sole Occupants of 32-Story Tower (Residents of Florida Highrise Find Every Other Prospective Condo Owner Has Bailed, and Now Want Out).

For CBS News' raw video footage on this story, see Lonely Tenant In Highrise.