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Harder Hall High-Rise?

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City Administrator Bob Hoffman said he receives as many as three phone calls a week from investors wanting more information about the historic hotel and 13.6 acres of property on Little Lake Jackson.

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By MANDY SHEETS | Highlands Today

Published: December 8, 2007

SEBRING — Although no one has come forward with a check, potential buyers are still expressing interest in Harder Hall.

City Administrator Bob Hoffman said he receives as many as three phone calls a week from investors wanting more information about the historic hotel and 13.6 acres of property on Little Lake Jackson, and the city is not marketing or advertising it.

John Joyner, a Sebring resident who previously managed luxury hotels in Miami, said he is interested in a joint venture with some other local investors to restore the hotel and build condos.

"For $5 million, it's not a bad deal," Joyner said. "You have to consider the costs of remodeling the hotel, but the land can be developed into something very profitable."

Joyner asked Sebring City Council members at Tuesday's meeting if they would be receptive to a 12-story condominium building on the site, and they said they would not pre-approve something like that without seeing a site plan.

"Personally, all I can picture with 12 stories is not something I want to see on Little Lake Jackson," Council Member Margie Rhoades said. "I don't think it's something we can talk about without seeing some kind of plan."

Joyner said he would want assurance he could build the project before putting money down on the project. The views from the 12-story building would help sell the condominiums, he said.

Harder Hall's hotel is seven-stories tall plus a bell tower, which makes it the height of an eight-story building at its highest point.

"You already have an 11-story building on Lake Jackson," Joyner said, referring to the Fountainhead. "I don't think that building is a problem or ugly, and the view is very nice."

Rhoades said she thinks high-rise buildings can be constructed in an attractive way that she may be interested in seeing, but she does not want to see a standard high-rise.

"There are ways to make high-rises that stagger, so the highest point is 12 stories and then the other stories stagger down, and that's the type of development I would want to see," Rhoades said.

Hoffman said because the hotel is still generating interest, he doesn't recommend the council pre-approve a 12-story condominium building on the site.

"As long as people express interest, we don't need to change our strategy," Hoffman said. "If we get to a point where we get no calls, we may have to do something else, but that is not the case right now."

Paying for interest on the original debt, security, insurance, electricity, storage trailers and attorney fees costs the city $42,840 per month. The city will continue to foot these bills until the closing of the property.

Hoffman said he expects the city to recoup these costs when the property is sold, which city officials are in no rush to do.

"You are sitting on a very valuable piece of property, and it only gets more valuable with time," Hoffman told council members. "The housing market is down right now, but it will bounce back. I bet you the value of that property will double in 10 years."

Hoffman said if interest from potential buyers ceases, council could consider several options, including: auctioning the $1 million of personal property on the site and eliminating 24-hour security to reduce costs; rezoning the property to a higher density to increase its value; or hiring a planner to develop a site plan for the remainder of the property and trying to find a developer.

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