Ending of submerged-land tale pleases all but one

After Don Connolly snapped up submerged land, neighbors got what they wanted. One also did - but says he took a bath doing so.

By CURTIS KRUEGER, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published February 19, 2003

When real estate speculator Don Connolly threatened Pinellas homeowners last year by cleverly purchasing deeds to forgotten properties, five dozen families in one waterfront community banded together and fought back.

Geoff and Tammy Apthorp put up $18,000 of their own money to buy underwater land that Connolly had purchased next to 61 homes at Pasadena Golf Club Estates, an unincorporated community sandwiched between Gulfport and South Pasadena.

Connolly had demanded $100,000 apiece from the homeowners to regain ownership of their underwater parcels. But because of the way the community banded together, and because of the Apthorps' front money, most families got out of the mess for $285 apiece.

The result: one happy neighborhood.

Except for one person.

Unlike the other homeowners at Pasadena Golf Club Estates, Daniel Gjeldum spent $5,500 to extract himself from the underwater land imbroglio.

Geoff Apthorp, 42, a business broker, and his attorney say there's good reason for that. But Gjeldum feels cheated.

"I feel like they stole $5,500 from me," says Gjeldum, 48, a marketing consultant.

The Pasadena Golf Club saga began last spring, just before Connolly became a household word in Pinellas County thanks to his audacious gambit in the north Pinellas community of East Lake. Connolly purchased a neighborhood lake there at a tax sale, erected a bright pink fence around it and suggested that neighbors buy the property back for $30,000 per family.

In the case of the Pasadena Golf Club neighborhood, Connolly had bought property under Boca Ciega Bay that threatened residents' ability to use their docks. The community formed an impromptu committee after Connolly began demanding $100,000 per submerged lot. Connolly soon dropped his asking price to $5,000 per homeowner, but neighbors remained incensed.

It was at this point that the Apthorps stepped forward and put up $18,000 to get rid of Connolly. It was understood they would seek reimbursement from their neighbors.

But also about this time, Gjeldum was getting ready to sell his house at 6507 Debbie Lane S for $499,000.

Because the Connolly matter was still brewing, Gjeldum agreed to put money in escrow so that the submerged land negotiations wouldn't stop him from selling his home.

Gjeldum says he put $5,500 in escrow, $500 for attorney fees. The idea was that the money would be used to buy the underwater lot from Connolly, and anything left over would return to Gjeldum. But if nothing could be worked out in six months, the money would go not to Gjeldum, but to the new owners of the house.

As Gjeldum sees it, everyone else settled for about $285, so well over $4,000 should have been sent back to him.

Apthorp and his attorney Christopher Sanders disagree.

They say they had urged Gjeldum through intermediaries not to negotiate with Connolly. Such a sale could have established a market value for the underwater land, disrupting everyone else's plans to buy their property back for less, Apthorp and Sanders said.

"We asked him on two separate occasions to not do that. He elected to do that because he was trying to sell his house. He wanted his money," Apthorp said.

After Apthorp put up his own money and bought the underwater land, Apthorp -- not Connolly -- was the one entitled to be reimbursed from the escrow account, Sanders said. So $4,750 was paid out of an escrow fund and into a trust account through Sanders' office.

That money was used to help pay Sanders' legal fees of $3,520 and to defray the cost of the purchase price for the other neighbors, Apthorp said.

Apthorp said that was well justified. He said the other homeowners had taken all the risks, so they should be rewarded by having their attorney fees paid and some of their own costs defrayed.

Apthorp and Sanders said they did not talk to Gjeldum directly. Sanders says a real estate agent appeared on Gjeldum's behalf at a community meeting and was made well aware that Gjeldum could jeopardize the other residents' bargaining position if he pushed forward with his own negotiations with Connolly.

But Gjeldum sharply disputes what Apthorp and Sanders say.

He said he has never spoken to either one and never was told not to proceed with the sale of his house and repurchase of the underwater land. He says he did not have a deal with Connolly. It doesn't make sense to him that he paid $5,500 for something everyone else in the neighborhood got for $285.

"It's just amazing to me that people try to justify what they did and it's just not right," he said.

Gjeldum is incensed about the matter, but said he is not planning to file a lawsuit in small claims court. Legal bills would probably eat up the money he might recover, he said.

Apthorp isn't pleased about Gjeldum's complaints, but calls the overall deal a success.

"The community came together," he said.

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