Action by largest lender in $100 million financing deal is latest setback for ill-fated condo projectSunday, January 13, 2008
By KATHY JUMPER and RYAN DEZEMBER
Staff Reporters
The largest lender in the $100 million financing package for 15.8 acres of prime beachfront in Orange Beach has foreclosed on the loan -- another blow to developers of the now-defunct Mandalay Beach condominium project.
Oxford Investments LLC, which is headed by Jim Mattei, the Mobile native who co-founded the Checkers burger chain, foreclosed on a tract in the middle of the property Jan. 4, court records show.
When it was first approved in the fall of 2004 amid a post-Hurricane Ivan real estate market white-hot with speculation, Mandalay Beach was to be a pair of 36-story towers encasing 500 luxury condos. In a deal with the City Council to secure zoning for what would have been Orange Beach's tallest buildings, the developers pledged to donate a 175-foot-wide tract to become the city's first municipal beach.
But the screeching halt to condominium sales following 2005's Hurricane Katrina and an overall tightening of the lending market were major blows to the Mandalay landowners, OB Development. The partners canceled the project in 2006 and have for more than two years sought a buyer for the prime land.
"I've never stopped trying," Rick Phillips, one of three partners in OB Development, confirmed last week. "It all hinges on financing."
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