DO-over: Almost a dozen developments would benefit from city extension

Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days for a development order in Destin.

City rules require builders to break ground within a year of receiving their DO, and that they make periodic progress on construction to keep the DO from expiring. This prevents developers from applying for a permit far ahead of construction so that they’ll be grandfathered in if the city toughens its Land Development Code.

Developers who can’t meet the deadline can apply for a year’s extension. Last month, Destin City Council directed its staff to research the pros and cons of offering an extra year’s extension so that developers unable to build because of the current recession won’t see their DOs expire.

Destin’s Community Development Department gave The Log a list of development orders that could potentially benefit from an extra year’s extension. Some received the initial DO earlier this year, others have already received an extension. Developers who continue making “improvements” to the property don’t need an extension.

•Caretta Dunes Condominium, two five-story buildings, 80 condos.
This project began in 2005 as Beach Crystal, a four-story, 64-condo complex in Crystal Beach. Last year, Traship Holding proposed adding a fifth story, which would make Caretta Dunes a Tier Three project, the highest level of development in the city’s Land Development Code. The changes also required an amended DO.
Destin City Council approved Caretta Dunes in February 2008, despite opposition from a number of Crystal Beach residents. Since then, they’ve been working under construction permits to keep the DO active.

•Beach Pointe Condominium II, five stories, five condos, 60 feet tall.
The council approved this Crystal Beach Tier Three development in August 2008, south of Scenic Hwy. 98 and next to Green Reef Townhomes. The owners listed in the city’s files are Daniel Fitzpatrick and Theodore Jones.
Tier Three buildings on the harbor can run to 15 stories, but in Crystal Beach, which is predominantly residential and rental, the bar for Tier Three is much lower.

•Denny’s Restaurant, 4,720 square feet.
The Denny’s chain assumed the lease of the Destin Diner property last year with an eye to opening an eatery there. Charlie Sutherland of the Shopping Center Group told The Log in January that Denny’s had changed its plans and had hired Sutherland’s company to find someone else to take over the lease.
Sutherland said the site on the corner of Airport Road and U.S. 98 is a good one, but potential lessees have been discouraged to learn Denny’s stripped the inside of the diner last year, when they still intended to demolish and replace it.
Denny’s has not withdrawn its application.

•Destin Water Sports.
This Howard Group-owned harborfront business wants to add an 883-square-foot, one-story office to its property. It received an extension to its 2008 DO on March 9, 2009.

•Harbor Reflections Condominiums, 15 stories, 28 condos, 99 hotel rooms.
In January 2008, Harbor Reflections — a project ABC Amusement plans for the site of Gilligan’s Restaurant and Gilligan’s Watersports — became the first Tier Three project to receive a development order from the city. It received an extension in January.

•Industrial Park building addition off Airport Road.
A 3,348-square-foot warehouse added to a one-story building owned by Colt Development. It received a minor development order last November.

•Le Melange, 145 feet tall, with 55 condos and 50,393 square feet of office/retail space.
Le Melange, the brainchild of LeMelange Development, will go up at the east intersection of U.S. 98 and Restaurant Row, on the site of Whitney Bank. It received a DO in 2006, an extension in 2007, an amendment to the DO in November, and is now working under construction permits.

•Pointe One Beach and Yacht Club, 79 condos, 10 stories.
This development, now called the Pointe Beach and Yacht Club, is located at Norriego Point at the end of Holiday Isle. It generated controversy because when it first went before the city, it included a marina that some Destin residents said wouldn’t be safe so close to the busy Destin harbor.
Developers removed the marina from the proposal, and the city issued the DO in 2005. Pointe One then applied to the Department of Environmental Protection for a marina permit — which would then have to come before the city for approval — but has not received one yet.
Pointe One received an extension in 2006, and has been working under construction permits since then.

•Safe Harbour Estates, eight lots off Bayou Drive.
Developer Rod Wright told the City Council in February that the 4.5 acres of Safe Harbour held a house that had been his family home until an inspection showed it was heavily infected with 11 different molds, some of them potentially fatal.
The council approved Wright’s plan to break the property into eight single-family lots, which he said will become an “old world Mediterranean style boating community.”
The council issued Wright’s DO in February.

•Village Inn Development, 82 condos, 148 hotel rooms,  2,299 square foot of retail, 1,717 square feet of restaurant space.
This redevelopment project from SFB Investment Co. will replace a motel at 215 Harbor Boulevard. The city issued a DO in April 2008 and granted an extension in March 2009.

•West Harbor, a four-lot subdivision at 220 Sibert Avenue.
Ronald Wright’s West Harbor received its DO last September, for four “single-family residential detached condominiums.”