UPSCALE APARTMENT COMPLEX BEGINS CONSTRUCTION IN CRESTVIEW

In September they were talking about construction. Today, the construction is moving forward and after speaking with the folks at Greystar, they making plans to be ready for the summer transfer season of the military in May 2011. Stay tuned.


September 08, 2010 8:47 AM
Brian Hughes and Michael Stewart Crestview News Bulletin

After five years of planning, work will soon begin on the 254-unit Spring Creek Apartments in Crestview. Construction is expected to start within 60 days, with an October 2011 completion date, developers said. Some units will be available for rent in May 2011, in advance of the official arrival of the 7th Special Forces and the military unit’s families. The entrance to the development will be located at the site of the former Shamrock Bingo Hall on West James Lee Boulevard, with the apartments to be built north of that location. The project’s partners, Southern Boys Development Group, which includes former Atlanta Braves baseball pitcher John Rocker, Doug Williams, Brian Willis and Chris Moore, have been working on the complex since 2005. “Southern Boys Development Group recognized Crestview as an underserved market in need of additional housing to support the thousands of enlisted and civilian personnel to be employed at Eglin Air Force Base,” a company press release states. Rocker said the complex will also be close to Florida A&M University’s new pharmacy school, to be located in the historical Alatex Building once renovations there are complete. Last Thursday, developers for the long-awaited apartment complex gathered at the entrance site for the official groundbreaking.
“I never thought this day would come,” Rocker said. “We had a lot of obstacles to overcome.”
Plans call for 10 buildings. Residents will have access to a swimming pool, a playground, a walking trail and a clubhouse that will feature a fitness room, business center and gathering space. Southern Boys has hired Charleston, S.C.-based Greystar, the nation’s third largest property management company, with more than 166,000 units in 80 markets, to run the complex. Rocker described the development as “upscale.” Greystar Senior Director Tracy Bowers said some of the one, two and three-bedroom units will be reserved for lower income renters. Bowers does not predict that the downturn in the economy will affect their ability to rent the units. Leasing will coincide with an upturn foreseen for the local real estate economy, she said. “If it had come out of the ground two years ago, it would’ve been much harder,” Bowers said. “This is a great time to be trying to lease-up ahead of the curve,” Greystar’s Jeff Kaloupek said. The project has had some setbacks, including the July 2008 pullout of a major equity partner, which forced the partners to start over from scratch. “You stuck with it all the way,” Crestview Mayor David Cadle said at the groundbreaking. “That’s the kind of entrepreneur we want in the city of Crestview.” Okaloosa County Commissioner Wayne Harris agreed. “I have to credit John and the Southern Boys for staying with this,” Harris said.