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COVID threat greatest now for 65+group
New step taken in effort to satisfy school deseg order BY RAY McNULTY Staff Writer
A federal judge this week approved a joint request from the Indian River County School District and local NAACP chapter to disband the district’s Equity Committee and replace it with a work group tasked with satisfying the remaining aspects of a 55-year-old desegregation order. The eight-member work group will consist of four representatives each from the school district and NAACP. According to the order issued Monday by U.S. District Judge Kathleen M. Williams, who presided over a 90-minute, in-person hearing last week in Miami, the newly formed work group must file its first status report by July 31. Her order modifies a Joint Plan approved in 2018, when the school district achieved some key requirements of the 1967 federal court order, specifically those concerning
BY LISA ZAHNER Staff Writer
MY VERO BY RAY McNULTY Staff Writer
Today marks the second anniversary of the first coronavirus-related closures in Florida, presenting us with the perfect opportunity to assess the global pandemic’s impact on our community.
It wasn’t all bad. After the crippling shutdowns we experienced in the early weeks of this publichealth emergency, in fact, Vero Beach has roared back – and much of the comeback was fueled by COVID-connected factors. Not only is the real estate
market booming, but tourism is at an all-time high this winter. Restaurants are packed. Hotels are full. Retail stores are buzzing. We’re also seeing more new businesses open their doors. “There has been quite an uptick in start-ups,” said CONTINUED ON PAGE 6
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The pandemic continues to wane in Indian River County. The number of new weekly COVID-19 cases here declined another 21 percent last week to just 78, and only four COVID-positive patients were hospitalized locally during the seven-day period. Statewide case numbers have plummeted as well, from 427,514 cases reported to the Florida Department of Health for Jan. 7-13 to 10,288 cases for March 4-10. But the more interesting statistic this week was in the demographic portion of the statewide report. The age 65 and older group last week made up 25 percent of reported cases of COVID-19 statewide. Looking at the past two years of case data, that same age group accounted for only 12.9 percent of cases since the start of the pandemic. CONTINUED ON PAGE 12
Grand Harbor: Riverfront club ‘experiencing a renaissance’ Detective says home nursing aide showed new homes in the pipeline. A third parcel with 78 additional homesites was just listed for $18 million by ONE Sotheby’s broker associate Michael Thorpe. The burst of land sales and
BY STEVEN M. THOMAS Staff Writer
New development is gearing up rapidly at Grand Harbor where two prime clusters of lots have been sold in the past three weeks, putting 64 March 17, 2022 News 1-14 Arts 51-56 Books 46 Dining 69-73
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‘no remorse’ in defrauding island seniors BY LISA ZAHNER Staff Writer
Indian River Shores Public Safety Detective Ken Barrett has seen just about everything
in his nearly four-decade law enforcement career, but the case of former nursing assistant Chiquita McGee and her crimes against an elderly John’s CONTINUED ON PAGE 10
Hope for Families Center celebrates 30 years. Page 18
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impending building activity comes amidst a major rebound at Grand Harbor, where members 14 months
ago took over control from billionaire Carl Icahn, bringing a new sense of optimism and ambition to the community, according to Thorpe and club manager Michael Gibson. Millions have been spent on facility upgrades, with more projects in the
works, and membership has grown from about 580 to nearly 750, according to Gibson. “Grand Harbor is experiencing a renaissance,” said Thorpe. “Having the members take over the ownership and future of the club is a wonderful thing
that has a big psychological impact. They have taken charge of their own destiny, and everyone is happier now. The buy-in has been tremendous.” Gibson said new development will add impetus to the upswing. Thorpe, who sold the first two clus-
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NEWS ters of lots, said he is in discussions with builders big enough to close on the 31-acre property he is now marketing. “Every small builder in town would love to get their hands on those lots, with inventory as tight as it is, but most of them don’t have the resources,” Thorpe said. “Eighteen-million dollars is a big number.” GHO Homes bought the first sold parcel, which consists of 42 finished lots in The Falls subdivision within Grand Harbor. GHO president Bill Handler said he plans to start construction by late summer, as soon as he can get permits, and expects to offer homes for sale before building begins. The second sold parcel – an exceptional piece of riverfront property with room for 22 multimillion-dollar detached villas – was snapped up by Laguna Vero Development, LLC, an entity controlled by Winter Park developer Shane Acevedo. “The stimulation and marketing value that comes to a community and club when all at once they start building is significant,” Gibson said. “It puts us in a place we haven’t been in in a long time.” All three parcels listed by Thorpe belonged to GB Vero Beach Development, an entity controlled by Icahn, who bought Grand Harbor in 2004. They were listed as a package, along with two other parcels, with CB Richard Ellis for a year or so, and there were rumors of a purchase deal last summer, but nothing materialized. Thorpe, who had sold homes for GBVB in several Grand Harbor subdivisions, and who has a long track record of subdivision land sales on the island and mainland, got the listings in November and convinced the seller to offer them a la carte. “CB Richard Ellis tried to sell it all as one big bundle and they had some interest and some offers, but it is a challenge because there were a range of very different home types in the package, from ultra-luxury on the riverfront to mid-market to entry level, and one builder isn’t necessarily prepared to build all those products.” Thorpe has a dense rolodex of builder, developer and investor numbers from 40 years of doing land deals in and around Indian River County and once the ala carte parcels were in his hands, contracts came quickly. The 7.1-acre Falls parcel went first, to GHO Homes, which closed on the property on Feb. 23, paying $4.2 million for the 42 finished lots, which will be the final phase of the subdivision. “When Michael calls, I always pick up because he always has good stuff,” said Handler, who will include a prepaid social membership to the club in the purchase price of his homes. “We are going to work closely with GHO and collaborate in a number of
ways to market the new homes and boost the club,” said Gibson. “They are very much interested in selling the grand lifestyle we have here, and we couldn’t be more excited to work with them. “Bill Handler is a very sharp guy, and he is building all over the place, and since we now admit members who live outside the Grand Harbor gates,
we hope to attract new members from other GHO communities besides The Falls.” Handler said the new homes in The Falls will be “about 2,000 square feet.” They will look like existing homes in the subdivision on the outside but have redesigned interiors “to freshen them up and make them more current.” Pricing has not been determined, due
to the ongoing interior design process and changing material costs and market conditions. In 2021, two-bedroom homes in the subdivision sold for prices ranging from $518,000 to $720,000. Zillow values the $518,000 home at $650,000 today and said the $720,000 house is now worth $846,000. The 4.2-acre luxe riverfront parcel CONTINUED ON PAGE 4
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closed on March 10 for $9.8 million, which was over the asking price. It has 17 large waterfront lots with approximately 100 linear feet of river frontage and phenomenal views of the Intracoastal Waterway and undeveloped preserve land across the water, along with five lots not on the river. “The deal went quick,” said Acevedo, who is managing partner at Laguna Vero Development. “We got it done in a month.” Acevedo said he hopes to start construction in four to five months and deliver two-story, 3,500-4,000-squarefoot luxury homes a year after building gets underway. “We are putting together floor plans and models now, including a West Indies model and coastal model. When the plans are done, we will be applying for permits and going before the Grand Harbor architectural review committee. We will work closely with the committee to come up with an architectural style that suits that amazing waterfront site in Grand Harbor.” The houses will be built by Orlando builder Meridian Homes. Sales will be handled by the Rita Curry Team at Dale Sorensen Real Estate, with prices starting at $2,995,000. Acevedo said he just discovered Vero and its red-hot market, and considers it an “incredible” find.
School deseg order CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
facilities, non-instructional staff and administrative staff. School Superintendent David Moore said the judge’s ruling is yet another sign that the district is serious about addressing the issues cited in the order and continues to make progress toward resolving them. “It was a joint motion requesting that we get rid of the Equity Committee and, instead, work directly with the NAACP,” Moore said. “We think we can make more progress and accelerate the process by working together without the committee in a meeting on public display.” Moore said he’s optimistic because the relationship between the parties “is in a much better place.” If so, local NAACP president Tony Brown isn’t saying. Brown refused to comment on the hearing or the judge’s ruling because the case is in mediation, where discussions are confidential. “People can see the same thing and see something different,” Brown said. “If I say something that differs from
“I am pretty impressed,” he said. “It is essentially a less expensive Jupiter. Vero is just as beautiful and desirable as Jupiter, but homes on the river like the ones we are building in Grand Harbor would be three times as much down there. “We are very excited to be entering the Vero Beach market.” The third parcel, which is listed but not sold, includes 78 lots and will be the final phase of The Reserve at Grand Harbor. In 2021 existing homes in The Reserve sold for between $900,000 and $1.3 million. The $900,000 home is valued by Zillow.com at $1.2 million this week, while the value of the house that sold for $1.3 million is now guesstimated by the online real estate information and sales site at $1.64 million. Thorpe said new homes in the three subdivisions will benefit Grand Harbor in a range of ways. “They will get fees when the houses are complete and have more people paying into the overall HOA,” he said. “And, of course, they will get a lot of new members in the club which will mean more money to work with and fresh blood, which is a good thing in a community that is 35 years old at this point.” “We believe people are going to buy these new homes in the Falls and Laguna because they want the lifestyle we have created at Grand Harbor,” said Gibson. “We have been working very hard since we became independent 14 months ago and are in a perfect position to welcome new residents and club members.” what they’re telling you, it’s a mess. So I’m going to follow the mediator’s directive and say nothing.” Moore said “significant progress” has been made on six of the eight remaining issues. Among them are: access to transportation, access to extracurricular activities, student school assignments and improvement in hiring Black teachers. He said the percentage of Black teachers in the district has risen from 9 percent when he took the job in December 2019 to 12.7 percent now. “And that was accomplished in the midst of a pandemic,” he added. Moore said he is pleased with the progress made in response to the desegregation order on his watch, but he won’t be satisfied until the district no longer needs to go to court. “Yes, we’ve made progress in most areas, but there’s still work to be done,” he said. “We can do better, and we will.” Although the relationship between the parties has been somewhat contentious in the past – Brown has criticized the School Board for not seeing the NAACP as an equal partner in the district’s effort to satisfy the desegregation order – Moore said he’s looking