WCI Begins Condo Sales for OceanSide Phase I

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POMPANO BEACH, FL-Bonita Springs-based WCI Communities Inc. has begun pre-sales of condo units in the first phase of OceanSide Pompano Beach, a mixed-use project it is developing on a nearly nine-acre site at One N. Ocean Blvd., previously occupied by Oceanside Shopping Center and a Holiday Inn. Both the previous structures are being demolished. This phase is a 17-story building with 186 residential condo units and approximately 40,000 sf of retail and restaurant space.

Groundbreaking is scheduled for this fall, with completion slated for approximately two years later. WCI would not provide an estimated construction cost of any of the three phases or the total development.

Among the units in Phase I are eight penthouses and six two-story lofts. Units range from 1,470 sf to 4,800 sf. Selling prices begin in the mid-$700,000s and reach to more than $2 million, according to a WCI spokesman. This portion of the total development occupies 4.4 acres. Among the common-area amenities are an outdoor plaza, two tennis courts, a theater, wine cellar, pool, fitness center and barbecue park.

Phase II calls for 77 residential condo units and a 340-unit hotel condo. As it has with other projects, WCI will develop and own the hotel portion, but turn day-to-day operations over to a hotel company. The spokesman says, “the goal is to develop it to five-star standards,” noting that Starwood operates the WCI resort on Singer Island.

“Plans for Phase III are in various stages of design, permitting and planning,” he says. This will likely contain additional hotel-condo residences, although the pace of residential condo and hotel condo sales in Phases I and II could alter that plan. “We are appealing to ‘splitters,’ the market of people who split their time among more than one home,” he explains. “Between 30% and 40% of people buying homes from us have other residences. Their choice of a residential or hotel unit is often determined by how much time they want to spend in it and whether or not they want on-site hotel services.” Owners of hotel condo units also have the option of entering their units into a rental pool for the times they are not in residence.