Briny Breezes cools to winds of change
Residents of a community of 488 mobile homes on the Atlantic Ocean reject selling for big money - for now.
By LANE DEGREGORY
Published April 22, 2006
If someone is willing to pay $1-million for a trailer, someone else might come along and offer even more.
That's what residents of Briny Breezes decided last month when they voted not to sell their waterfront town.
At least not yet.
"It will be October or later before we do anything now," said Bill Tolford, 81, who has been coming to Briny for more than 50 years. "We've left everything in the hands of lawyers."
A tiny town south of West Palm Beach, Briny Breezes includes 488 mobile homes stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to the Intracoastal. Shuffleboard courts, a library and theater are among the many community buildings. A relic of old Florida, Briny is one of the last stretches of beach that average families can afford.
For 70 years, people in Briny didn't have much to fight about. Then, in October, a developer showed up and put a price on paradise. He offered $500-million to buy Briny, the whole town, so he could build a hotel and massive condos along the surf. He would bulldoze Briny to make room. He would pay each trailer owner enough to make them all millionaires.
Some residents were ready to take the money and run. Others said you could never pay them enough to leave their square of sand.
"A few weeks ago, they had a big meeting. And 78 percent of the people voted not to accept that offer," said Bob Kraft, 79.
They didn't refuse to sell. They're just holding out for a better offer.
Residents, mostly white retirees from up North, told lawyers to solicit bids from other potential buyers and get back to them. "A lot of people think they can get more money," Tolford said.
The original bidder, Jean Francois Roy of Ocean Land Investments in Boca Raton, withdrew his offer after the vote.
"We may never get another offer like that," said Tolford, who worries the real estate market will decline.
The vote has split the once-tight community even more than the original offer to sell. "There's a lot of bitterness within this little park," Kraft said. "Even some vandalism, folks keying cars.
"Everyone's going home for the summer wondering what will happen."
Lane DeGregory can be reached at 727 893-8825 or degregory@sptimes.com.