San Sebastian Inland Harbor has new owner

Historic City News has learned that real estate owned through foreclosure by a Wells Fargo Bank affiliate has been sold to a central Florida family involved in a number of property investment projects throughout Florida for a reported $4.75 million.

Gulambbas Abdul-Hussein, and the Abdul-Hussein family partnership, will hold ownership through a limited liability corporation based in Sanford, Florida. The managing member of SA Marina Holdings LLC is Humphrey SA Holdings, according to court records.

“It’s a big deal for this city getting the 10.4-acre property developed,” City Manager John Regan told a reporter from the Jacksonville Business Journal today.

In 2006, Jacksonville Beach developer Wally Devlin, and The Devlin Group Inc., proposed a hotel, condo and spa development. The long-vacant site at the west entrance corridor to the city is located on the San Sebastian River at 159 King Street and was slated for high-end condominiums and a Westin Hotel.

When the bottom fell out of the real estate market, several floating docks and a boat basin were added in an effort to attract investors to the project. The site never saw any vertical construction. When Devlin could no longer make the payments, Redus Florida Commercial, an affiliate of Wells Fargo Bank, took over the property. It was foreclosed in 2007.

The Business Journal article cites a source familiar with the project that Humphrey SA Holdings is considering the property for a mixed-use development; including a marina, hotel, retail center, and perhaps residential housing.

No word yet on a timeline for the development. That answer may hinge on whether there is interest in using the originally approved planned unit development, or if it will be necessary to start that process anew. Conflicts with the planned 450th Commemoration may further stall a start date, as well as environmental issues.