Tropical Navy base for sale

[FinallyRetired]

Here it is folks, 2900 acres on the east coast of Puerto Rico. Roosevelt Roads is for sale in three chunks, through an online auction beginning this January. Each chunk requires a $1M depost, and the min bid is $20M for two of the chunks and $25M for the third (which is environmentally clean and has all the old base housing). This base is just a few miles where DW and I have our winter condo, great location. If I could just come up with $20M or so...

Roosevelt Roads: 2900 acres of land for sale in coastal Cieba, Puerto Rico; brought to you by Colliers International

Interesting side note. During WWII, Roosey Roads was built to house the entire British Navy, the royal family, and the royal crowns in case the Nazis overran Britain.

 

[clifp]

Just over $2000 and acre for mostly undeveloped coastal propoerty, with some structures and infrastructure in place. This sounds pretty cheap (well by Hawaii standards anyway.)

I bet somebody is going to get a pretty good deal. If you round up other investors let me know!

 

[Gumby]

I spent some time at Roosevelt Roads back in the early 1980's. It is really an attractive location. Someone will make a killing on this.

 

[bssc]

I think that we should pool our millions and buy this as an investment.

 

[clifp]

I think that we should pool our millions and buy this as an investment.

Well if everybody who visited the forum in the last 24 hours ponied up $100K or so we be well on our way to picking up one of the parcels.
I am in!

 

[FinallyRetired]

Maybe I'll register on their site as Donald T. Rump and create some excitement.

 

[FinanceDude]

I think that we should pool our millions and buy this as an investment.

Who would be the general partner? I'm interested as a limited partner.........

 

[calmloki]

Dang! that's a bit nicer location than the base at Condon Oregon i thought about. OTOH, it's much further out of reach financially. CLIFP - think you have the right idea.

 

[FinanceDude]

BTW, if we could get someone to underwrite some Puerto Rican bonds to help build infrastructure, they are TRIPLE EXEMPT from taxes in the US..........

 

[CybrMike]

I'm in for $200K.

 

[RetireeRobert]

OK. Who's organizing the investment/bidding pool?

 

[FinanceDude]

OK. Who's organizing the investment/bidding pool?

Somebody retired on here........

 

[TeeRuh]

Spent February 1973 there. Eaten up by those little flying bugs (pretty much all mouth; can't remember what they're called). Went to my only cock fight; pretty neat.t.r.

 

[FinallyRetired]

Just over $2000 and acre for mostly undeveloped coastal propoerty, with some structures and infrastructure in place. This sounds pretty cheap (well by Hawaii standards anyway.)

I bet somebody is going to get a pretty good deal. If you round up other investors let me know!

As a basis of comparison, there's been a parcel of around 70 acres offered at $8M just on the other side of the fence from this Navy base. That works out to over $115,000 an acre. Of course, it hasn't sold for a couple of years, so it's overpriced. But even if it sold for half the asking price, say 55-60k, that's 30 times the min bid price for the Navy property. This parcel is zoned for 350 apartments and has all the permits and utilities already, so that gets the price up. But, the Navy property also has all the utilities and even a few hundred turnkey homes ready for occupancy. I have to believe that either:
1. The $20M is a low ball min bid to get lots of offers or,
2. The Navy really wants to get out of there, or
3. This is just another example of waste of govt $$$

There are some concerns bidders might have on two of the three Navy chunks -- they are sold as is, including any environmental hazards. There are oil tanks that were used to fuel Navy ships as well as ammo storage areas, so there may be some cleanup required. The Navy offer says whoever wins the bid assumes the environmental cleanup, and they require the bidder to have environmental insurance. One of the parcels, though, is clean of hazard, this is where the base housing, school, and other facilities were. The min bid for that parcel is only $5M higher than the parcels that may need cleanup, so I have to think that 2 and 3 above are correct.

Oh, the parcels for bid also have a 9 hole golf course, an in-water marina, and include access to the Navy runways that are the longest in the entire caribbean.

Edit: I just calculated the price per acre, and it's a bit over $20,000 an acre, not $2,000. But still cheap, about one fifth of the asking price for similar land closeby. Especially for being shoreline.

 

[Nords]

Someone will make a killing on this.

C'mon, vets, remember what was going on in the backs of all those military bases?

I want to see the DoD's insurance policy for all future unexploded ordnance disposal, HAZMAT clearance certification, all fuel tanks removed, and surveys of all dumping grounds. And just because I was a nuke, I wouldn't mind seeing what they turn up on the radcon manual's "thorough search for contamination". I want a guarantee of free 24-hour response to deal with all things military or hazardous that are not found in a typical residential area.

"Good used military base, cheap". Look how well that went at NTC San Diego, one of the better BRAC examples. And Hawaii is still flailing away at [-]NAS Barbers Point[/-] Kalealoa, where I know of several missile bunkers that I'd hesitate to stroll through without a radiac.

 

[RetireeRobert]

There are some concerns bidders might have on two of the three Navy chunks -- they are sold as is, including any environmental hazards. There are oil tanks that were used to fuel Navy ships as well as ammo storage areas, so there may be some cleanup required. The Navy offer says whoever wins the bid assumes the environmental cleanup, and they require the bidder to have environmental insurance.............

Edit: I just calculated the price per acre, and it's a bit over $20,000 an acre, not $2,000. But still cheap, about one fifth of the asking price for similar land closeby. Especially for being shoreline.

Uh oh! A mistake on cost estimate of magnitude ten. I guess we want to elect someone else as the investment pool organizer