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Mayor buys park at edge of Seminole

Redington Shores' J.J. Beyrouti says Lakeview Park, with about 55 rental mobile homes, fits the bill as an investment.

By ANNE LINDBERG
Published August 21, 2005

SEMINOLE - Redington Shores Mayor J.J. Beyrouti has bought a mobile home park on the edge of Seminole.

Beyrouti and his wife, Linda, paid $2.2-million for Lakeview Park, 118 Linda Drive, in April.

The park is off Seminole Boulevard, adjacent to the north side of the former Women's Hospital, which is being redeveloped with condominiums and townhomes.

Beyrouti, 53, said Friday that he has no plans to redevelop Lakeview. But the purchase by him and other investors of Lakeview comes at a time when the sale and redevelopment of mobile home parks have come under increasing fire from residents who are displaced to make way for condominiums or townhomes.

In unincorporated Pinellas County, for example, the Golden Lantern Mobile Home Park on Park Boulevard is slated to become 162 townhomes unless park residents can defeat the proposal.

In Seminole, residents from the Harbor Lights Mobile Home Park trek to City Hall every two weeks to plead their case before the council. No proposal has been submitted for the Harbor Lights property, but residents' pleas are a sort of pre-emptive strike to make sure council members understand their plight.

Those residents, many of whom own their trailers, say there is little or no affordable housing left in Pinellas County for them to move into.

Some are lobbying state representatives for changes in the law to protect them and see they are compensated for the loss of their trailers when such redevelopment occurs.

Beyrouti said he recently sold the Redington Shores Motel on the beach and was looking for an investment. With about 55 or so rental mobile homes, Lakeview appeared to fit the bill, he said.

Pinellas County property records show the 9.76 acres was sold in April to Monicarla Ltd. Monicarla's partners are Beyrouti and his wife, Linda Nichols Beyrouti.

On June 22, the two signed a warranty deed transferring the property from Monicarla to Lakeview Park Land Trust for $10. The trustee for Lakeview is the mayor's wife.

The transaction, said Beyrouti, is completely normal. When people buy property, he said, they typically form a company to put the land under its own name.

"It's like any other company," Beyrouti said. "You create its own identity so you can track its expenses; you can track its income."

Beyrouti has served as Redington Shores mayor since 1996 and previously served as mayor and town commissioner.

He ran unsuccessfully last year for the Pinellas County Commission and has been mentioned as a possible contender for state House Seat 54 currently held by former Sheriff Everett Rice.

Times researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.

[Last modified August 21, 2005, 00:50:20]