A special magistrate gave the owners of the neglected Old Dixie hotel five months to secure four permits from Flagler County or face demolition of the property. The decision by the magistrate, Sean McDermott, amounts to a further life extension for the hotel property, yet again frustrating the county’s attempts since last March to demolish a building it considers to be a nuisance and a danger to public health.
“It is unsafe by definition of our code,” Robert Snowden, Flagler County’s building official, told the magistrate at a Jan. 15 hearing. “It’s broken glass, there’s guard rails missing, there’s dilapidated concrete, there’s a fence that’s not maintained. Sometimes it’s up, sometimes it’s down. It’s an abandoned building. It’s been abandoned for a long time. Since the last time we came here, there’s been zero stuff. They have been doing stuff behind the scenes with, with getting their approvals, but there’s no urgency to get this permit up and going.”
McDermott upheld the county’s findings that the building, at 2251 South Old Dixie Highway, is dangerous and kept the county’s demolition order active, but suspended (or abated), pending the hotel owners making good on their pledge to move forward with permits and rehabilitation of the building–something they have been promising for almost four years, since they bought the building in May 2021 on a raft of pledges to fix it, turn it into a sparkling new hotel with a steak house, and put up a performance bond.
Aside from removing debris, filling up a pool, demolishing a segment of the building and fencing the property, they have fulfilled none of those pledges. To a passer-by, the L-shaped two-story building today looks like same ruin it’s been since the property stopped being the Country Hearth Inn in 2010. The county has been battling the owners in circuit court in the related matter of the $250,000 performance bond, which Circuit Judge Chris France ordered the owners to pay last June. They have not done so, claiming poverty. (They faced a $1,000-a-day fine as a consequence.) The claim of poverty is at odds with statements by the owners’ representatives in front of the special magistrate, where they have spoken of taking out substantial loans in preparation for the rehabilitation of the hotel.
McDermott ordered the owners to secure a land-development permit, a building permit, and two fire-safety related permits from Flagler County government by mid-June or face demolition. Assistant County Attorney Sarah Spector had asked for a shorter timeline. Denis Bayer, the attorney representing the hotel owners, asked for five months. The hearing was the second before McDermott in six months, when the owners had first appealed the county’s demolition order. Last week’s hearing was largely a repeat of the June 2024 hearing, with the harder deadline the central difference. (See: “In Blow to Flagler, Special Magistrate Rejects Demolition of Old Dixie Motel Even as He Finds It ‘Dangerous’.”)
For all the county’s descriptions of the building as a hazard, McDermott was not ready to let the demolition proceed this time anymore than he was in June. “It’s an extraordinary remedy that local governments do have the authority to seek, if they meet the burden, because it’s seeking to stop a public health and safety violation,” McDermott said. But “it’s a high threshold.” He had used similar words in June.
But he told the assistant county attorney that the demolition order will be “self-executing,” in her words, if the permits are not secured by the deadline. “The demolition order would still be in play. I’m just affirming your order here, so there’s no more further avenues for appeal to come back,” McDermott said. “That is the consequences, as articulated in Flagler County’s order for the failure to comply with abatement, which includes demolition, would go into effect.”
https://youtu.be/Oolqhc8qpk8?feature=shared
The hearing was contentious–mostly in substance rather than in tone: the attorneys know and respect each other even as the issue has them at loggerheads. Bayer argued that the county’s order is “premature,” and that the owners have been working “diligently” to move the project forward.
Spector disputed the claim. “These property owners are not authentic and have not demonstrated ability to actually make the repairs,” she said. She cited as one example the $250,000 cash bond due on Aug. 20, 2021, with the work on the hotel to have been done by June 3, 2021. None of it was done. Last November in the court case, the court found the owners in civil contempt. Bayer objected to the mingling of the court case with matters before the special magistrate, saying it has “no relevance whatsoever to the issues being presented” at the hearing.
Spector continued presenting evidence of further pledges and timelines the owners submitted that were not fulfilled beyond a site plan approval that was obtained from the county’s planning board late last year. Site plan approval is “far short of getting any building permits,” she said. In sum, the owners had not met their own deadlines, and what documents they did submit has been sloppy.
“The submittal that came in was lacking just about everything,” Snowden testified. “It didn’t even get past the front counter.” The submittal was just for the hotel rooms–no lobby, no public bathrooms that are required, among other requirements. “There’s just a lot of stuff that’s missing on this plan, and that’s where we stand today.” Bayer asked Snowden if the work had included a $200,000 roof repair. Snowden called it a “$100,000 repair.”
“Why they’re inflating the price of the roof, it’s not clear to us. They’re doing the same thing with demolition,” Spector said. “So it’s not clear what they’re trying to do here, but it is showing that they don’t have a true intent here–I don’t know if it’s before the court that they’re not reporting things correctly or to us, but I did want to point out that discrepancy.”
Spector noted the owners’ previous claims that they had secured funds through Bank of America. “Unfortunately, what they presented was not signed,” she said. Rather, she showed a document submitted by the owners to the court that showed they had $109 in the bank. “Which is very troubling to the county, because if they can’t afford $250,000 or $1,000 per day, how are they going to do $5 million worth of work?”
McDermott, however, was less interested in the finances than he was in the consequences of letting demolition go forward. “Whether they have money and resources, that provides some context,” the magistrate said. “But the primary concern of the county is making it safe, protecting the public health, safety and welfare?” He asked what it would take to make it safe. The county said it gave the owners two options: to knock it down, or to secure the permits and do the repairs. Meanwhile, the building “is not fit for human occupancy, which is 100 percent what we have here, because it’s a shell of a building,” Spector said.
“Pretty much every month since the last hearing, we’ve sent them everything with permitting,” Bayer said. Kim Buck, the civil engineer for the hotel project, testified that any timelines submitted to the county were estimates. She said some of the delays were caused by changes required by the planning board, while a submittal to the St. Johns Water Management District for a review of wetlands on the site could not be done by the district until Jan. 9. She cited other delays that were out of the owners’ control. McDermott was dubious about the water management district review. Why is that a requirement for making a building safe?” he asked.
When Bayer questioned Adam Mengel, the county’s planning director, Mengel acknowledged that there have been what Bayer described as “a lack of communication or radio silence on our part.”
“Is it unusual for the county to still request demolition, even though the property owner is processing through the county and state permitting processes?” Bayer asked Mengel.
“I would say that that that is unusual. This may be the only instance of that that I recall,” Mengel said, though he then described it as “unusual circumstances” prompted by a three-year delay in timelines.
Sue says
Why do we have to pay for demo??? Its obvious they have no intentions of doing anything they have been required to do. Flagler county should take over the property and resell it.
Common Sense says
The county could still be better prepared for these hearings. There is more wrong with this place than what Bo listed. They should demand the fines be paid and foreclose on the property. That will get their attention. These people do have money. Interest rates are higher now and that could make it more challenging to borrow money as well. If they are saying they would spend upwards of 8 million than they really should tear it down and build something new. I think they want to skim off the top of any loan they get.
JimboXYZ says
Empty threats, this has gone on long enough & far too long. Take the property back or force them to resell it themselves relisting the property for commercial sale on one of the internet real estate listing websites and move on from them. Enforce the fines, they have the names of the execs of the corporation and issue arrest warrants for failure to pay the fines for those individuals. This has gone on long enough. Maybe jail time for failure to pay fines is justified & in order. Hiding behind an LLC or any other type of corporation is getting old. The Trump case in NY of 2024 is a precedent for any of it. If the AG of NY can ban Trump from operating a business there, the officers of this mess can be banned from operating anything in FL ?
Jane Gentile-Youd says
Thank you FlaglerLive with all my heart by exposing the disgusting, illegal games our law department has been allowing to continue since the 3 page Agreement expired on August 21, 2021 which was voluntarily signed by the current owners on May 12, 2021 one day before they even took title to the POS ( 2251 S. Old Dixie Hwy LLC) and not the former owners ( who the county should have dropped from the lawsuit) . The County legal Department, led by $1million budget Al Hadeed farmed out a going nowhere lawsuit and instead of dropping the original owners he amended the lawsuit to keep them in (??) Come June 2021 no permits ever pulled, come August 21,2021 no $250,000 Bond posted with the clerk of court and no work being done…….
Fast forward 2025 $40,000 and 95 separate documents filed in the Civil Action and yet NO LIEN FOR THE $250,000 3 and 1/2 years past due was ever recorded against the property itself until ( after threatening to report them to the Florida Bar ) ebven though the County could have sought a Summary Judgment to demolish the building shortly after August 2021, im addition to THREE Judicial Court orders, the last two granting the county CONTEMPT against the owners for the $250,000 back in September 2024 ( after granting a ‘partial ? summary judgment in June 2024) the county WAITED UNTIL JANUARY 3, 2025 TO FILE A LIS PENDENS AGAINST THE PROPERTY FOR THE $250,000.
Don’t yawn yet – the best is yet to come: On November 1 , 2024 Judge Christopher France issued a SECOND CONTEMPT ORDER – granting us – the county – the right to file a $1,000 PER DAY LIEN ( accumulating) against the PROPERTY if owners did not supply county all information on or before November 14, 2024. GUESS WHAT FOLKS?
To this very day ( unl;ess my computer or I, or both are malfunctioning) no ADDITIONAL LIEN has been filed which should have been to take effect November 15 ( okay give a day or 2) for $1,000 per day accruing. So far we, the taxpayers are out hundreds of thousands of dollars including lost potential revenue, staff time, outside unnecessary legal fees for doing Al Hadeed’s job, and disgracing our community. We have lost 10 weeks or 70 days translated so far in $70,000 loss because no LIEN FOR THE $1,000 a day has been filed as I write this post.
Al Hadeed, with a straight face, told the County Commissioners that the owners of the hotel are ‘insolvent’ but their local attorney ‘ who has not filed a necessary Notice of Appearance that I can find) told the magistrate that his ‘clients’ have SPENT $$$$THOUSANDS on architecture ideas, water, studies, plans.
Who is the best liar around here folks. Al Hadeed who tells Commissioner Dave Sullivan last year these jokers who never pay their taxes on time have ‘plenty of money’ then tells the new commissioner ( sans Dave Sullivan) that they are insolvent and then does say a peep with their unnoticed attorney declares how much money his clients are spending.
My advice to the Commissioners: Pleazzze Fire Hadeed – Fire Heidi or demote her back to General Services or tell her she has to fire Adam ‘useless’ Mengel as Growth Mis-management Director and appoint Bo Snowden who combines a brain, a heart and the intelligence to get a Special Magistrate involved because he wants to protect the citizens from a DANGEROUS ILLEGAL VIOLATIVE STRUCTURE.
BRAVO FLAGLER LIVE – THANK YOU FOR CARING. I KNOW YOU AND JERRY CAMERON WERE NOT GOOD FRIENDS BUT HE IS STILL READY, WILLING AND ABLE TO DRIVE THE BULLDOZER. !!
THANK YOU FLAGLERLIVE.
Dino says
Jane, just because you use a lot of CAPITALIZED LETTERS doesn’t make you RIGHT just ANGRY and MISINFORMED.
Jane Gentile Youd says
Dear Dino
Kindly correct me as to how I am ‘MISINFORMED’. Just the facts please.
Most unfortunately, and quite sadly, for all Flagler County taxpayers I am NOT MIINFORMED
Hopefully the current commission will put a final stop to this taxpayer abuse; hopefully…
Dennis Rathsam says
All you need next is Rod Sterling, Welcoming you to the Twilte Zone!
Dave says
How long have we heard this pathetic story all driven by double talking lawyers and a court that can’t seem to get out of the way and actually do something. Tear the sorry building down.
Atwp says
What is going on? This has to come to an end. No progress, what a shame. This is going on too long.
Robin says
It is about time. The delays have been inexcusable.
Disgusted says
In 5 months, it will be the same crap coming from the county. Years in the making, for Gods sake, do something. Tear the damn thing down. Tired of hearing about this and no real solution from the county.
Considering says
Unbelievable, for most of Flaglerlives readers whose political and social leanings sway far to the left, I cannot believe what “HAWKISH “ flow of conservatism I’m reading.
All I keep reading is in essence “ seize the property”, “knock it down” fire the attorneys” “ fire the staff” wow talk about SCORCHED EARTH DOCTRINE.
It amazes me how much the readership goes into full attack mode when they don’t get what they want. Commenters like Jane Youd seem to be leading the charge for revolution and mob rule.
You have to remember, this whole thing about the hotel comes down to the law and it’s from what I read still in the court system. If you feel that the courts are not succumbing to the demands of the mob because of DUE PROCESS then rally to change the law. Get rid of those annoying things called amendments to the constitution., specifically DUE PROCESS.
BUT JUST REMEMBER ONE THING ITS A TWO WAY STREET.
Jane Gentile Gentile-Youd says
To Considering says: The violators are 3.5 years in default. Can you li ve rent free or mortgage free or tax free or code violator and get away with it!
Toni says
Maybe it’s me but I have never read in any of the reports that they didn’t pay their mortgage. I have read that they paid their taxes granted late but no the less paid with the late fees satisfied.
As for the code violator status i read they are still between cases in the courts and are entitled to DUE PROCESS which may take years to be settled, but so far the owner’s have not violated any laws.
Clark Kent says
Sad tale of a drawn out process, but you left out a key part of the story: Where is this place? No address, no street, no geographical information at all. Remember the 5 Ws. #journalism
FlaglerLive says
Clark Kent is absolutely right, and thank you for pointing it out. We get so engrossed in reporting a recurring story that we sometimes forget the basics. The address (2251 South Old Dixie Highway) has been added in the body of the story.
Susan. says
How many years have we heard about this and the courts allowing it to drag on this long. Isn’t there something about getting courts to move cases off their calendars instead of dragging them on for years.
I worked a court calendar in another state and our Superior Court Judge insisted that we move case off the calendar in a timely manner not like Flagler County where they move cases as slow as a turtle.
Skibum says
OMG, yet another in a very long line of much too gracious extensions for a group of con men who have thumbed their noses at the county, held their middle fingers high in the air to court orders and magistrate’s prior decisions, and have done NOTHING to improve or eradicate that derelict eye sore of an abandoned motel. Why in the world do these unscrupulous individuals deserve one more day of leniency, let alone a full five more months added on to their long history of broken promises and lies??? Ridiculous! Makes me wonder if we will EVER see an appropriate resolution, given the bureaucratic mess that is helping these crooks get away with their ongoing “restoration” con job.
Joseph Barand says
Can’t help but wonder if Trump isn’t behind this mess. He is the only one who can delay, lie, cheat, steal for years.
celia pugliese says
Jane Gentile Youd is totally correct. Now 5 more months and after how many years wasting our Flagler County taxpayers hard earned funds?
Toni says
Your probably right however it not up to Jane Gentile-Youd or any other self appointed “ADVOCATE FOR EVERYBODY AND EVERYONE” to make such demand in the COURT OF PUBLIC OPINION.
IT IS REPORTED THAT THE OWNERS ARE STILL IN LITIGATION WITH THE COUNTY THROUGH THE COURTS.
THE COURTS ARE THE ONLY ONE TO MAKE A DEMAND !
Jane Gentile Youd says
Dear Toni
The Circuit has issued two C ONTEMPT Orders against the owner giving the county permission to LIEN the property for the 3.5 years past due $250,000 agreed to in writing and filed in puiblic record as well as a CONTEMPT ORDER in favor of the county for $1,000 a day fine starting Novemer 15, 2024 which the county has so far not filed a lien for… 2 recent court rulings: and the Special Magistrate now saying another 5 more months and if not fixed the county can knock it down – that is the final words of TWO JUDGES not Jane Gentile-Youd!
You must be a pal of Hadeed or Menge – Karma will prevail…