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Condos win funding pledge

By PAUL SWIDER
Published August 2, 2006

ST. PETERSBURG - Despite a cooling housing market, JMC Communities has received an $80-million funding commitment from Bank of America for Ovation, a building of estate-sized condos priced from $2-million to $4.5-million.

"They have a large degree of confidence that we can make this happen," said Steve McAuliffe, JMC's vice president of sales, about the bank's agreement to fund construction once presales reach half of the 45 units planned for the 27-story building.

McAuliffe said JMC has already sold about a dozen of its units and he is aiming to hit the 50 percent mark around the end of September. Construction of the complex on Beach Drive between First and Second avenues N could begin in October and be finished in 2008.

"They've been a client of ours for 15 or 20 years, so we're comfortable with this," said Kimberly A. Graham, executive of the Florida North Region of Bank of America. "If they don't hit the presale, they don't go vertical."

The $80-million from the bank is not expected to cover all the costs of construction, with the remainder coming from completed sales.

McAuliffe said he expects the complex to sell out within a year. The project also contains 17,800 square feet of retail space.

Paul Swider can be reached at 892-2271 or pswider@sptimes.com or by participating in itsyourtimes.com.

[Last modified August 1, 2006, 23:22:30]