340 apartments planned for Commons Drive

Some people would sooner rent an apartment than buy a condominium.

That, says Ed Wood of Trammell Crow Residential, is why Alexan Henderson Beach, a new development north of Commons Drive behind

Wal-Mart, will be filled with 340 upscale apartments rather than condominiums.

“We evaluated both (in 2006) when we got into this project,” Wood told The Log. “The primary reason is, there is a great lack of available rental apartments. There just aren’t any — the city and (Okaloosa) County have both reported this.”

 Wood said the company expects to break ground soon, and open the complex to renters 20 months after that.

HBT, the local company that owns the Commons land, requested in 2005 that Destin annex the land in return for guaranteeing HBT’s right to build up to 492 condos in two more nine-story buildings. The Destin City Council agreed, despite objections from some councilors that the condo towers would put too much traffic on Commons.

The following year, HBT’s Shane Cannon said the company had decided instead to build a luxury motor-coach park with 140 to 160 lots, and requested the city rezone the land to allow that.

Some council members said the change would turn the property into a trailer park, but Cannon said the park would draw luxury coaches the way Kelly Plantation drew expensive houses.

“Can someone buy a lot in Kelly and put a $20,000 house on it?” Cannon told the Log in 2006. “Maybe, but you don’t see it happen.”

After much debate over the definition and standards, the council rezoned the land. The park, with 110 lots, received city approval in October, as did the Alexan development.

Cannon told The Log recently that out of 32 acres, 20 would be devoted to the apartment complex — three three-story buildings, two of four stories — the rest to the motor-coach park. He said HBT had partnered with Trammell Crow Residential because the land was zoned “mixed use” so HBT wanted different elements in the development.

Based in Atlanta, Trammell Crow specializes in multi-family development projects. According to tcresidential.com, it has developed over 200,000 apartments and condominiums across the country since it was formed in 1977. The Web site says that because the condo market has been overbuilt, the company has suspended condo development for now.

“Homeownership is no longer ideal for everyone, nor is it viewed as the only means of investment,” the site says. “In recent years, many people, particularly young professionals, have decided that renting is the best option for them in order to maintain liquidity and geographic flexibility for job changes as well as to avoid debt.”

The company has also developed Alexan Back Beach in Panama City Beach. The site says Trammell Crow created the Alexan brand to provide “unique, upscale apartment communities at competitive rates.”

Wood said the rental rates will be competitive for the area, but the specific price won’t be set until the apartments are ready to rent.

The design will be “coastal architecture” similar to South Walton’s WaterColor and Seaside, and the apartments will all be one or two bedrooms.

Amenities include a fitness center overlooking the community pool, and the area around the pool, Wood said, will be the “focal point” of the development

“There will be a community center with big-screen TVs,” he said, “areas for residents to commune with each other, an outdoor fire pit and lots of gathering places, all focused around the pool.”