Northpinellas: One project's troubles may delay second

One project's troubles may delay second

A father says the two developments are not related although he has now taken over both.

By LEON M. TUCKER

DUNEDIN -- Dunedin officials are threatening to block construction of a posh, 45-unit condominium development along Bayshore Boulevard until the developer completes $35,000 in infrastructure work on a separate subdivision.

But the developer, Bernard Strong, claims his son is the one responsible for the construction work at Virginia Crossing subdivision, and that he is merely filling in during his absence.

Strong, president of the St. Joseph Sounds Development Group, says his company has no financial ties to son Andrew Strong's Highmark Homes of Dunedin, although the elder Strong is now running that company, too.

"For people to construe that there is a financial relationship between that development and this development is incorrect," said the elder Strong. "This development is being done by Highmark homes and is owned by my son."

Andrew Strong could not be reached for comment.

The five-story St. Joseph Sounds condominium project, where units were to be sold for as much as $612,000 each, was initially to be developed at 1320 Bayshore Blvd. by the younger Strong. But Bernard Strong said his son sold it to him after an "accounting irregularity" sucked money out of the Virginia Crossing subdivision's construction west of Keene Road off Virginia Street.

Bernard Strong said he also volunteered to step in and help resolve his son's troubles by taking over the Highmark operation, while at the same time making plans to build the condominiums on Bayshore.

"He's out of the way right now and I've taken over the day-to-day operation," Strong said about his son. "We're making financial arrangements to get the work done."

Strong declined to discuss the accounting problem.

Meanwhile, the city has sent Highmark a checklist of 38 items that need to be completed at Virginia Crossing before it would allow people to move into the homes.

The work includes cleaning storm drains, replacing driveways and repairing roads. It would cost the city an estimated $60,000 if it took over the work.

Highmark has completed five of the 38 requests, city officials said. In exchange for the city's permission to allow homeowners to move into the remaining 17 homes, Strong proposed to deduct $2,020 from the sale of each home to pay for the rest of the work.

The city refused, and officials say they won't issue building permits for the condo project until the work at Virginia Crossing is finished.

"We have been working with them to try to get that resolved and they are just not doing it," said John Hubbard, city attorney. "If in the future that infrastructure fails, after the community accepts those subdivision's improvements, the people who live there will have to find a way to pay the expenses of bringing (the infrastructure) up to code and we don't want to expose people to that."

Residents have complained that liens have been placed on their homes by subcontractors who have not been paid by Highmark. Tina O'Brien has about $30,000 in liens placed on her home including $19,000 for the removal of construction debris that is still piled on some home sites.

"I just hope we get this solved," O'Brien said. "I'm not being vindictive, I just want them to pay their bills and clean up their act."

This isn't the first time residents in a Highmark development have complained.

In 1998 Andrew Strong blamed labor shortages and technical problems for delays on the Country Grove West subdivision off Belcher Road, also in Dunedin. And like the St. Joseph Sounds project, he started work on Virginia Crossing before he finished the project there.

Since January a total of 53 complaints have been filed with the Pinellas County Department of Consumer Protection concerning Virginia Crossing. The agency, which helps mediate consumer disputes, has no legal authority.

"We're in the process of analyzing those complaints," said John Wood, chief investigator for the agency. "In each case we've gotten a business response from Highmark which has said they have financial difficulties and will address the problem, but that remains to be seen."