As I reported in early June, when MVCI purchased the Radisson Suite Beach Resort in Marco Island, Florida, with plans to renovate the property as a timeshare, local ordinances stood in their way. Marriott’s intention was to convert the 233-room property into a 219-unit timeshare. But to do that, they’d need to build upward beyond the building’s present 125-foot height.

The timeshare/vacation club developer requested permission to build to a height of 175 feet. At the August 7, 2006, Marco Island city council meeting, a compromise was reached. MVCI will be permitted to build to a height of 150 feet.

According to an article by reporter Jennifer Brannock in The Naples News, (www.naplesnews.com) the president of the Marco Island Civic Association, Kathryn Sullivan, expressed disappointment with the decision. Sullivan was quoted as saying, “I think hotels are important to the economy of the island, and I think we lost a hotel tonight. The danger with this is that we’ll lose more hotels as the owners realize the advantages of going to timeshares.”

A recent survey of island residents showed that more than half are opposed to raising the height regulations for Collier Boulevard, the main thoroughfare on the island. The Naples News says, “Some residents and councilors said they were concerned that the allowance of more units will create traffic and congestion problems, because more people can occupy a two-bedroom time-share than a hotel room.”

And while it is easy to empathize with the local residents’ desire to protect their community from overgrowth, it is interesting to note they have identified some of the very same things we are always saying at SellMyTimeshareNOW.

1. When people realize the advantage of timeshares, it is hard to go back to hotels, and this applies to both vacationers and hoteliers.
2. The spaciousness of timeshares beats out a comparable hotel room every time.

The Perfect Combination:

Edgartown is beyond charming; it’s elegant, like so many other areas along the Massachusetts coast. So it’s little surprise with the soaring property values on the historic island of Martha’s Vineyard that someone (in this case Russell Urban and his company, ULF Edgartown LLC,) found a way to give a few more people the chance to own property at this highly desired summer retreat.

Within the next few weeks, Edgartown Residence Club will be open for business, with six luxury condominium fractional apartments. Ownership amenities will include exclusive use of an automobile while in residence, a personal concierge, a service to pack, unpack and store your private possessions, airport and ferry shuttle transportation, daily housekeeping and pre-arrival grocery shopping. Each of the maximum 72 owners will have up to 21 days of annual usage and entry pricing begins at just over $90 thousand.

Edgartown was the first colonial settlement at Martha’s Vineyard and has been the county seat there since 1642. Many of the existing private homes predate the whaling era. No doubt the early residents would have been amazed that some of these same homes today sell for upwards of $20 million. And no wonder fractional owners are anxious to own their piece of this for less than a hundred grand.

How Did It Become So Grand?

I promise not to write too many more pieces about the fractionals at the St. Andrews Grand. But I truly appreciate the restoration of historic architecture and I am glad to see a landmark building restored to a place of grandeur and dignity.

The six-story, red brick structure, which sits across the street from the clubhouse at St. Andrews golf course, was originally constructed with Dumfries red sandstone quarried in southern Scotland. In 1895, it opened for business as the Grand Hotel. Those who have played the Old Course at St. Andrews–truly the home of golf–will tell you that the building’s cupola looms above the eighteenth green. Walk across the Swilcan Bridge, and the eighteenth hole is framed by the Valley of Sin to the front, and the red brick fortress of the old Grand Hotel behind.

Rudyard Kipling and King Edward VIII are listed among the notable guests at the Grand Hotel. And, of course, many of golf’s early greats stayed there, including the legendary amateur Bobby Jones, who was a hotel guest when he claimed his 1927 victory at The Open, one of three times he won the event, and one of thirteen Major Championship victories he achieved during his career.

In 1949, St. Andrews University purchased the Grand Hotel and converted it to dormitory space. Then, in 2004, Wasserman Real Estate of Providence, Rhode Island, bought Hamilton Hall from the university and commenced their plans for renovation and restoration as a showpiece fractional property. The architectural firms of Hurd Rolland Partnership (Edinburgh, Scotland) and Van Tilburg, Banvard, and Soderbergh (Santa Monica, California, USA), and designer Randall Ridless, are working together to protect and preserve the integrity of the building’s design, decor, and harmony within the historic environment.

What he’ll get for the money

A few weeks ago, I wrote about Phil Mickelson’s $3.4 million timeshare/fractional purchase, and I thought you might enjoy learning a little more about what you get for that kind of money. For starters, this is pre-development pricing. Sure the golf course at the property is already constructed, after all, it’s the Old Course at St. Andrews, where they’ve been playing golf since at least as early as the fifteenth century. But the St. Andrews Grand, a renovation of a building that has most recently served as a dormitory at the University of St. Andrews, isn’t scheduled to open for business until 2008. Not that “open for business” means that anyone can just walk in and plunk down his or her $1.5 to 3.4 million—you have to be invited to purchase property there.

When completed, the five-star St. Andrews Grand will have 23 residences, including six penthouses, like the 1,922 square foot penthouse purchased by Phil and Amy Mickelson. All will be three or four bedroom apartments with luxury kitchens. Property ownership includes the privilege to fish for salmon and trout in the River Tay, as well as hunting rights at a nearby estate, golf at numerous courses, his and hers spas, a billiards and game room, limo transportation, a library, and a gourmet dining room.

According to Golf Digest Magazine, the Mickelson’s nine weeks of yearly timeshare/fractional usage at the St. Andrews Grand will come with annual dues reported to be nearly $35,000. For less than Phil Mickelson’s annual dues, you can buy a timeshare of your own in Scotland.