Temporary window coverings are just one of numerous problems for the house at 2900 Avenue Au Soleil, which the town hopes will be demolished. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star
By Steve Plunkett
A daily fine of $200 will kick in on Dec. 8 unless the dilapidated Intracoastal home between Bluewater Cove and the rest of Place Au Soleil is demolished by then.
In addition, the owner of 2900 Avenue Au Soleil must get a building permit by Dec. 1 to rehabilitate or replace the property’s sea wall, Special Magistrate Kevin M. Wagner ordered on Oct. 20. The sea wall must be rehabilitated by March 1 or rebuilt by Aug. 1 to avoid another $200 daily fine, he said.
The actions came after Gulf Stream cited Bhavin Shah for not keeping the principal building or the sea wall in acceptable condition. A third code violation, for having “makeshift” hurricane protection devices on the windows, would be corrected by the razing of the building.
A $200-a-day fine is already accruing on the main building and its multi-vehicle garage for having leaky roofs. The anticipated demolition would also fix that problem.
Shah, with 2900 AAC LLC, which bought the property in October 2021 and is in the midst of selling it, told Wagner at an Oct. 4 hearing that the tiles on the roofs are no longer made in the same size.
“After the roof contractor got up there, cleaned everything and saw the damage, they essentially suggested that we need to replace the whole roof … which would be almost a $250,000, $300,000 expense,” Shah said.
Shah also hopes to have the town vacate a utility easement that runs the length of his property. Its driveway opens up just behind Place Au Soleil’s guardhouse and weaves behind seven homesites on Bluewater Cove and nine on Orchid Lane.
The pipe that sends drinking water under the Intracoastal to the rest of the town is in the easement on the property. Another line along 2900’s northern edge carries irrigation water to the Gulf Stream Golf Club.
In a complex plan, the developer of Bluewater Cove has already installed an alternate main under the street it built to accommodate the drinking water line. But that would need a new easement to connect to the underwater pipe, which is behind 2900 Avenue Au Soleil.
And the prospective buyers of 2900 are reluctant either to allow the water connection or to demolish the house until Gulf Stream assures them that it will vacate the current easement.
“This is something that we all want to work together to get done,” Vice Mayor Tom Stanley said.
Wagner scheduled a fine assessment hearing for Dec. 15 in case the three recent code violations are not remedied. The home’s previous owners racked up $200,000 in code enforcement fines that the Town Commission reduced in 2019 to $20,000 in an effort to get new owners for the property.
Bluewater Cove originally wanted to buy 2900 Avenue Au Soleil and incorporate the parcel into its new subdivision. But Cary Glickstein, president of Ironstone Development Inc., told town officials in early 2021 that he had abandoned that plan partly because of the property’s “tortured” legal past.
Three of Bluewater Cove’s planned 14 homes are under construction. The next four in the plans are all along the south side of the street, and as they are built will partially obscure visitors’ views of 2900 if demolition does not take place.
Comments