Home, $800K (stick not included)

The wrongly placed gate keypad is just one example of the problems at Greyhawk, some residents fume.

By CHUIN-WEI YAP, Times Staff Writer
Published November 8, 2007

Julie and Dan Mulherin say that JES Properties has not provided all of the amenities it promised for Greyhawk at Lake Polo, where homes can cost $800,000. But the developer says that some residents' expectations are too high.
	[Mike Pease | Times]

ADVERTISEMENT [Mike Pease | Times] When Greyhawk at Lake Polo resident Julie Mulherin comes through the side entrance, she uses a stick to reach the buttons of the gate keypad. [Mike Pease | Times] Plumbing and door parts litter the floor of an unfinished bathroom at the subdivision park. [Mike Pease | Times] Dan Mulherin is annoyed by the state of the boat ramp. The developer, JES Properties, says a breakdown in communications is partly to blame. [Mike Pease | Times] An exposed PVC pipe lays in a pool of water on a street in the upscale Odessa subdivision.

ODESSA -- JES Properties is the developer behind a 1.8-million-square-foot proposal for office towers at the Suncoast Parkway and State Road 54, touted as a "gateway to Pasco County."

But residents at another JES development, barely a mile to the west, are questioning the developer's abilities.

JES developed Greyhawk at Lake Polo as an upscale, gated community, with houses that can run up to $800,000 each.

But some homeowners say they were snookered.

They say many amenities were overpromised and underdelivered. They describe Greyhawk as a slipshod project and JES as an indifferent manager.

JES president Doug Weiland, who is also president of Greyhawk's board of directors, blamed the grievances on a breakdown in communication. He said some issues are legitimate, but others are tied to market forces beyond his control.

For some residents, there's no amenity more symbolic of their problems than the gate keypad at Greyhawk's side entrance: it's on the wrong side of the road.

For months, Julie Mulherin had to run out of her car to punch in the access code, and scoot back to her car before the gate swung shut, she said. She has had to use a stick to poke at the keys.

Residents were later provided access stickers that can be scanned electronically, but this presents more irritation at Greyhawk's main entrance, where the access reader is on the correct side of the road.

For them, the keypad is a daily reminder of what's gone wrong.

"I've been lied to," Mulherin said. "I have to pay homeowners association fees, and if I don't, I get threatening letters. And yet, if I need to use the keypad, I still have to get out of my car in the pouring rain."

* * *

Monday, about 60 Greyhawk residents showed up at their annual homeowners association meeting to grill JES officials, who still control the association.

They spoke of a landscaping bid that escalated in price after it was awarded. Palm trees that are struggling to live after they were dug up from the rear of the development and transplanted to its entrance. A grassy "boat ramp" that ends in a mound of weeds.

"You put your boat trailer in there, it will fall off," one resident said.

They said JES couldn't keep its story straight about why the keypad has stayed on the wrong side of the road despite their complaints. They said JES hasn't delivered a solution to houses built with the wrong side facing their lake.

They want to know why the tennis court has no lights, despite brochures touting a "Lighted Tennis Court." They want to know where the advertised putting green is. They want to know why there are rusty nails sticking out of the jagged planks that line the volleyball court.

Greyhawk residents pay $380 a quarter for their homeowners association. Some residents questioned whether these funds have been diverted to fix glitches that the developer should pay for.

"While it may not be illegal, it's certainly not ethical," said resident Gennaro Scarfogliero.

* * *

Two days after the meeting, Weiland said other residents told him after the meeting that he had accomplished 80 percent of what was needed. He said "there were only four or five people who were very upset."

Asked why he didn't defend himself at the meeting, Weiland said, "Part of it is a ventilation issue. I've got a thick skin. I'll let them ventilate."

He said the breakdown stemmed from a residents' representative who failed to distribute updated progress reports to the community.

"We made lists and distributed lists," he said. "We asked the resident to distribute them, but obviously he didn't do that. That's why we are going to take over communication from now on."

He said the keypad issue would be solved as soon as possible, "at the developer's cost." The tennis courts will get lights. The landscaping contract will be re-bid. The rusty nails will go. JES will set up a community Web site -- though resident Rob Hendle pointed out he has asked for one for nearly a year.

There won't be a putting green or nature trail. Weiland said residents who expected to get these were using outdated amenities brochures.

As for neighbors who complained about the "back-to-front" houses on the lake, he said JES would landscape around these homes but won't reorientate them.

"These people had the design laid out to them," he said. "When they bought it, it's clear when you look at the map, you are looking at the back of others' lots."

He said some residents had expectations that were too high.

"These people want instant everything at one time," he said. "The market is not exactly booming now. ... The contracts they sign clearly said we cannot promise all those amenities."

* * *

Can the county help?

Greyhawk is governed by what's called master-planned unit development conditions, which doesn't include the quality of amenities. County officials say they would step in only if there were code violations.

Which might explain why resident Dan Mulherin was riled when he read a St. Petersburg Times story about the county giving its blessing for Weiland to shepherd a massive office project, called Ashley Glen, at the Suncoast Parkway.

"How can this guy take on this type of job when he can't even handle a 250-home subdivision?" Mulherin asked. "This is a sloppy low-end development. The lady from Wal-Mart could do just as good a job."

Chuin-Wei Yap can be reached at cyap@sptimes.com or (813) 909-4613.

[Last modified November 7, 2007, 21:41:51]