The pool at 4001 North Ocean overlooks the ocean.
Inset below: Movers with the White Lion Moving unload parts
of a bedroom suite for a new owner at 4001.
Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star
By Christine Davis
A new 43-unit condominium, 4001 North Ocean in Gulf Stream, has just completed two furnished models and is in the process of delivering the building to unit owners.
Yes. Unit owners. You read that right.
All that’s left for sale are seven condominium residences, including two penthouses. The four-bedroom, 4½-bath penthouses have 4,900 square feet, and the other units, with an average of 3,000 square feet, vary from two-bedroom, 2½- bath units with a den, to three bedroom, 3½-bath units. Prices range from $2.2 million to $5.1 million.
Located on approximately 3½ acres, the six-story complex, a $70 million project — conceived after the boom — was developed by the Kolter Group, designed by Randall Stofft Architects and Roger Fry & Associates Architects, and built by Kast Construction.
Kolter bought the land in 2009, after the old Sea Horse Bath and Tennis Club had been demolished. The property was in foreclosure. “Good market, bad market, there wasn’t any land like this available. It was a unique piece of property and we were intrigued by it,” said Bob Vail, president of Kolter Urban, the condominium division of Kolter. “The only other condominium developed remotely recently that I know of was 1000 Ocean in Boca Raton. Palm Beach won’t allow heights, nor will Gulf Stream. There are a lot of barriers to entry.”
Even though they believed in the project and thought the market would improve by the time the condos were finished, it did take a certain amount of courage.
“It’s difficult to sell high-end residential off paper and we knew that going in,” Vail said. “What we could count on, though, is once the building could be seen, that the public would appreciate the building’s design, views, quality, etc. and we are pleased at the response from those buying our product.”
The timing turned out to be good, he noted. “In the middle of the project, our property was part of an unincorporated county pocket that was annexed by Gulf Stream. We didn’t anticipate that, although we welcomed it. The town of Gulf Stream has been tough but fair with us, and we’ve been a conscientious developer, and hope the town views us that way.”
To that end, they aimed to build a project that would fit into the local community. “We went out of our way to keep to the Bermuda style of architecture popular in the area. We’ve been told that we have succeeded with that and we are proud about it. We are happy that we could deliver something that most of the residents in the area don’t view as a negative and view as a positive. People who live in that area are passionate about their neighborhood and that’s how it should be.”
Just recently, Kolter has submitted plans for permits for villas on the west side of A1A, across the street from the condominiums. One building will have two villas and a second building will have three villas. “They are like single-family homes with common walls between them and will have between 3,600 and 4,000 square feet. We hope to complete construction by the end of the year,” Vail said.
The Kolter Group, a private investment firm out of Toronto that came to Florida in the early 1990s, now has headquarters in West Palm Beach. Although 4001 North Ocean is the company’s only beachfront condominium development, the company plans to build three waterfront condominiums: Water Club North Palm Beach, Water Club Snell Isle in St. Petersburg and an unnamed development in Sarasota.
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