The Flagler County chief building official has issued a demolition order for the long disused Old Dixie Highway motel that, through a succession of opaque owners who promised the moon but delivered only low-orbit cosmetics, has gone from an eyesore to a hazard to a haze of hope and back to an infuriating thorn in the side of Flagler County government.
County Attorney Al Hadeed announced the demolition order in a brief update to the County Commission this morning. The demolition order was dated Feb. 13 and mailed to the current owner’s supposed Lenox Hill apartment in Manhattan. (The company’s registered address is at another location, 30 blocks away).
The county has been here before, suing the former owners in 2021 as a step toward demolition, once those owners stopped responding. Demolition, of course, never happened, as the new owners stepped in and signed an agreement to rehabilitate the place, though the legal action continued. A year ago County Attorney accused the new owners of violating the agreement and “every good faith gesture the county has made. There’s absolutely no excuse.”
But the motel sat there. Last June the board adopted a new code that gave the county more authority to condemn properties. “The building official per that code has gone out and made a determination that it needs to be demolished, that it’s condemned as unfit for human occupancy,” Hadeed said today.
The order, signed by Chief Building Official Robert Snowden, calls the building “clearly unsafe,” “neglected, damaged, dilapidated, unsecure or abandoned.” In other words, the building is not substantially different than it has been over the last many years, after one set of owners–Ajmal and Zubair Zulali–then another set–David Shebiro and Manny Gomez–took possession on promises of renovating it. The Zulailis had bought the property for $300,000. They sold it for $650,000, according to Property Appraiser records.
The owners have a right to appeal until Thursday (March 7). The owners had submitted a site plan, but it was rejected by the county because it lacked sufficient detail, Hadeed said. “ If they do not file an appeal, then we are authorized to go in and demolish the property and take the expense that we have incurred for that activity and assess it against them, and it becomes a part of their property tax bill.” The owners paid the 2022 tax bill (($5,044) but have not paid the 2023 bill ($4,302).
If the owners do appeal, the case goes before a special magistrate. “ We are encountering the same delay tactics which we have experienced throughout the case,” Hadeed said.
The county has also filed an amended motion for summary judgment in its original case in circuit court. The motion required a response from the company. Instead, the company’s lawyer, Theodore D’Apuzzo, in October filed a motion to withdraw from the case, saying he had a conflict with the client. The county wanted to challenge that because “the procedural effect is that it suspends the case, because the party is not represented. So we can’t have the hearing, because the party is not represented. The party does not have to file the response, because they are not represented. It’s a dilatory tactic. So we were going to challenge it.”
Were, but didn’t. Once the county showed its intention of challenging the move, D’Apuzzo reversed. That was in late November. “That’s an example of some of the, in my opinion, dilatory tactics in bad faith that had been used by the other side, unfortunately,” Hadeed said.
The amended motion for summary judgment was filed in late February. It includes a litany of things the new owners did not do, allegedly violating their agreement with the county.
The last set of owners operate under an LLC called 2251 South Old Dixie Highway, the address of the motel, and never themselves have appeared before the commission, delegating those appearances to Greg Kong, a Palm Coast Realtor.
Two years ago Kong appeared before the commission with all sorts of promises about a new 96-room “Henry Hotel” on its way, plus banquet center, plus fantastic steakhouse, along with $5.2 million in investments. (See: “In Place of Old Dixie Motel Relic, Developers Promise a Jazzed Up ‘Henry Hotel,’ With a Year’s Construction.”
Last May in a deposition, Kong revealed some of the inner workings of the motel purchase and its aftermath. He had sought out the new owners after himself failing to broker the property for another entity, and agreed to work for them for a flat fee of around $25,000. He described himself as “essentially their project manager and key holder for the property, overseeing coordination, things of that nature.” He specified that he was responsible for securing contractors and to be the liaison with the county, and, in a wry aside, “speak at depositions.” (At one point, when he was denied the option of looking something up, he joked about being on “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.”)
When Kong learned of the agreement between the new owners and the county–the new owners had done no due diligence before signing it–Kong called David Shebeiro, one of the owners, “crazy,” because the timeline was unrealistic. “I just said, You’re crazy. You’re–it’s not happening,” Kong is quoted as saying. There were “heated” conversations, and the owner opted to go as fast as possible. Debris was removed, the old pool filled in, a fence installed. There was also some work done on the roof. But that was it.
The other owner, Manny Gomez, was just the money guy, providing capital, Kong said. “I don;t think he can tell you the color of the building,” he said.
Meanwhile, Kong claimed, “I feel that there was a, you know, an individual that was running for a County Commission seat that was using it as a soap box to get elected.” He did not name the individual, other than then-Administrator Jerry Cameron, who had secured a $250,000 bond in case the renovations were not completed. Kong called the measure “politically motivated… with Jerry Cameron and, you know, whoever had his ear.” He felt the new owners were “paying for the sins of the previous owners.”
But he conceded a key point: there was nothing the county did, nothing that Snowden, the chief building official, did, that made the new owners miss construction deadlines, except for a bit of a delay on the roof repairs. But he compared the building to one in Daytona Beach, “sitting there completely gutted for I don’t know how long.” But “the building is currently staged now waiting for the next step, which is a renovation stage.”
FLF says
Would be a great place to house homeless people, the bones are there, just needs government funding.
Um, No... says
Oh sure The Plantation Bay Luxury Gated community across the street will love that. Ever been back in there? Big Money lives in there. So Good luck with that whimsical idea, the place is a bulldozer snack finally
TiredOfIt says
yes let’s house the homeless 30 feet away from one of the cleanest nicest communities in the area good thinking
TR says
It’s about time that this eye sort is demolished.
Villein says
It’s nice to know the entire time former Flagler County administrator Jerry Cameron was here he was doing the bidding of a former County Commissioner, but we already knew that or should have anyway.
What ever happened with the proceeds of the bond???
Jane Gentile-Youd says
Bond was never paid. Hadeed should have filed for Summary Judgement back in 2021. He is a waste of taxpayers money
Atwp says
Will they demolish the place? This place has been written about for sometime and nothing or very little is done.
dave says
Tear it down. Its a total scam by the building owners, promising, a new hotel and a restaurant. Not going to happen. And put any homeless in the Flagler County administration parking lot with tents.
Joseph Barand says
The outstanding tax bills demonstrates the corruption and incompetence of our Property Appraiser and County Attorney. I pay twice this amount on my single family property on a standard size lot. Let’s see who ends up with this “cleared” Property, do I smell another B Jays or other big box store in the future?
Jane Gentile-Youd says
My first comment will be regarding my efforts since 2012 with the county getting nowhere versus my ONE phone call to the Health Department and they were there the next day! took over 100 photos- filed a notice of violation and a LAWSUIT – made them cover the pool, clean up the broken windows, trash and busted AC units and were awarded $45,000 reimbursements with ONE singleCOURT PLEADING . And all it took was ONE single phone call to the Health Department accomplished getting rid of the RATS running around, into local businesses and into some homes in Plantation Bay . Fact: the entire county staff knew about this disgraceful unhealthy, unsanitary condition for years but did nothing other than write up a few violations which went nowhere.
Unfortunately the same citizen gets nowhere with county – 12 years – over $35,000 in legal fees to outside attorneys NOT ONE COURT ORDER even requested by the county. Code Enforcement sees mountains of trash but tells citizen he has been instructed by his bosses not to go there. The County attorney and his outside unnecessary expensive attorney despite filing mountains of motions for Default etc, never set a single HEARING before a JUDGE and to make it more corrupt they withdraw the Default request April 2023 but now , in 2024, issues same unsafe structure violation as issued back in January 2018 by former Building Inspector Mark Boice ( why did he quit)
Sickening and I don’t think they will do anything soon. Oh yeah – one of the commissioners called me when I told them that as of June 1, 2023 the 2022 property taxes had not been paid for the POS ( $4,500 for 6.5 acres versus $35,000 our money legal fees)…. Commissioner called me back-said Hadeed told him ” These people have money”…..
And so the show goes on and Hadeed will probably get his contract renewed instead of his law license revoked… My hubby will take a vacation day to see the day the POS is actually demolished.
If were an attorney I would have filed the May 12, 2021 3 page Agreement with the Court wherein the current owner granted the county permission to knock down the building as soon as the owners violated the Agreement by not posting the $250,000 and acquiring all permits no later than August 2021. I would have asked the court for a Summary Judgment on the face of the agreement to grant the county to demolish the POS soon after the agreement was violated. One court appearance, no outside legal fees, no illegal ugly huge phony sign defacing county property.
Why did the Chief Building Inspector wait so many years to issue a Notice of Condemnation and Demolition Order? He was probably told not to. Why did our County Attorney farm the civil case to his pal attorney , paying thousands of unnecessary dollars to him where it still sits in circuit court?
Adam told me 2 years ago the building would never come down. Hope he was wrong. He is the Chief Code Enforcement Scott Simon’s and Bo Snowden’s boss and he too just let this disgrace continue for over 10 years. He doesn’t live in Flagler County; he doesn’t care. Dave Sullivan won’t run again so he doesn’t care . None of the commissioners had one single question about the demolition at yesterday’s commission hearing.
Thank goodness our Building Inspector has the b…….s to do what nobody else in power in the county has, Thanks Bo
Your kidding right ? says
Jane, you mention in paragraph 6 “ Why did the Chief Building Inspector wait so many years to issue a Notice of Condemnation and Demolition Order? ” then go on to praise him in the last paragraph for having “courage” to sign the demolition order. Some what contradictory wouldn’t you agree ?
So I guess the county is moving forward with the demolition based upon your hard work ? That’s fantastic news however I remember at the last Commission meeting the County Administrator Heidi Petito informed the Commissioners that the hotel will be demolished I didn’t hear her mention you as the driving force.
All I can say is I’ll believe it when I see it.
Land of no turn signals says says
It Should have been knocked down years ago.To many people seating on there hands.What would be really useful in that location is a storage unit complex or another dollar store.
TR says
They just finished (or is really close to being finished) on building a storage facility about 200 yards north on Old Dixie Hywy on the opposite side of the street. So that won’t go in there. I’ll be maybe the camp site might buy it and expand or a developer will build apartments.
JimboXYZ says
Demolition will require implosion ? US-1 would have to be closed that day or middle of the night. Then they still have to remove the debris. Smartphones would not be allowed within a certain distance of where the explosives would be strategically placed. I think the most recent of owners bought into the property to flip it without doing anything to the next corporation with plans for the location. Inflation made demolition to new construction unaffordable, so this is where it stands. Others have made a way to make a buck standing around & doing nothing about it. Typical ?
TR says
I think you may be commenting on another topic. This doesn’t make sense to me being it is no where near US-1 and it’s only 2 stories tall, so no implosion is required. The Katz and Green building in PC was three stories tall and it wasn’t imploded when it was taken down a few months ago.
Full moon over Flagler says
Chief Building Official Robert Snowden, calls the building “clearly unsafe,” “neglected, damaged, dilapidated, unsecure or abandoned.” (Flaglerlive 3/5/24)
So why hasn’t the county demolished this structure yet, for the safety of the public ?
The county shares an exorbitant liability everyday this building is allowed to stand.
Heidi Petito, stated at the last commission meeting in February that the county is going to tear down the hotel.
Here we are in March and it’s still there. If this process has been going on for 7 + years I would think the county really doesn’t know what they are doing or they just don’t care.
So which one is it INCOMPETENCE or MALFEASANCE ?
Jane Gentile-Youd says
to Full Moon:
Bi was not the Building Inspector in 2018 when the first unsafe notice went out. Then the entire department was not allowed to do anything. The owners have filed an Appeal to the Demolition Order; the county attorney has not set the Default Agreement for HEARING so our current brave building inspector is trying, in a separate action to get a special master to order its demolition based solely on the deplorable condition.
I doubt this building will be torn down soon because our county attorney is having too much fun paying YOUR and my tax money to his pal Abe McKinnon to keep filing asinine nonsensical going nowhere pleadings in court.
$35,000 of our money spent and guess what – the owners of this POS haven’t paid their pittance of property taxes. Heidi and Hadeed can’t stand me because I see right through both of them.
Head Scratching in Flagler says
If the Building Inspector determined that it is in SERIOUS CONDITION and a DANGER to the community doesn’t he or she have the authority to have take an EMERGENCY ACTION and ORDER the tear down the building for the SAFETY OF THE PUBLIC ?
There has to be a law granting a safety official emergency authority to do this before someone gets killed from a collapse or other danger to the public.
palmcoaster says
Jane G.Y., been fighting to get rid of the eyesore for years while the county administration was wasting our tax dollars on it. Of course government never concedes the residents battles to achieve a goal the always want the credit for themselves after wasting others peoples monies, ours. Still yet to see how much more rope that we are forced to pay for, they are to give the owner.