The saga of ‘The Forgotten Ones’ at Gasparilla Mobile Estates continues …
More developments have unfolded in the Gasparilla Mobile Estates controversy and they are just as strange as the ones that preceded them. Residents have a new eviction notice, a new reason given by the property owner for them to leave and a big difference in appraisal amounts.
Mike Leslie, a resident of the little community just off island, has been watching closely what happens to his southern property while he’s at his home in Michigan. He is doing everything in his power to make sure that the people of the park can be allowed to keep their homes. It is a constant battle, to be sure, as they face a new challenge almost every week.
Property owner Carol Kropp, who is now in bankruptcy proceedings, had an appraisal of the park done recently for her case. It came in as having an estimated worth of $27 million. Leslie, who works with appraisals every day for his job, said that amount is inaccurate, to say the least. It is more than $23 million higher than the appraisal the homeowners had done.
“They appraised it as if the park was completely rebuilt, with an income approach,” Leslie said. “Like they’re getting money out of it. The appraisal should be what the park is worth right now, because that’s what they asked of her. Our appraiser (who came up with a $4 million appraisal) used current comps, while their appraiser used fully functional parks as comps, parks that were built much later than Gasparilla Mobile Estates. If you use the income approach for this park, it is obviously manipulated. There is no income stream here.”
Leslie was referring to the fact that for months now, Kropp has returned lot rent checks that have been sent to her. In her initial bankruptcy paperwork she turned that around and said part of her financial issues stemmed from the fact that her renters were not paying her. But it wasn’t for a lack of trying.
Another wrinkle in the story is that the homeowners’ appraiser found out that the waterway around the park is registered by the Army Corps of Engineers as a mosquito ditch.
“It is not a registered Florida waterway,” Leslie explained. “Their appraisal includes it as a registered waterway. There’s only so much you can do with a mosquito ditch.”
Claims against Kropp of wrongdoing made by the residents were added into a bankruptcy addendum and are worth about $20 million. The addendum was filed months ago but Kropp and her attorney have just recently contested it.
Part of their objection includes the fact that Kropp has stated that each resident in the park would get $1,600 for their homes … whether the structure is destroyed or perfectly fine. The average cost for a home in the park is well over $100,000 and some are worth more than $200,000.
There are other instances of alleged wrongdoing by Kropp since the day residents received their first eviction notices. At a time when so many were trying to come together to help each other, there were those who saw the hurricane as an opportunity.
When Kropp sent her letter out, many of the residents of Gasparilla Mobile Estates were still in complete shock from the severity of the storm and the damage all around them. When they received the letter of eviction, there only thought was to just give up. Out of the handful of people who turned their titles over to Kropp, some of them have gotten them back. A few others never came back.
But when Kropp realized that just a very few residents were responding to her initial demand to turn in the titles to their homes and leave, she employed other tactics to get them to go. Since Ian, she has left residents to figure out their own park cleanup – on land or in the waterways. She has even attempted to stop the utility companies from coming in to restore power and water – it has just been within the last three months that the residents themselves got the water system sorted out and working. She also had the park’s sewer plant shut down.
Just recently Kropp sent another eviction letter. The first letter was on October 10, telling residents they had to be off the property by November 7. Just 12 days after the hurricane hit, they were told they had to move their homes and their lives to another location. In less than 30 days. Kropp’s rationale for the eviction was that the property was “not safe.”
The new letter of eviction orders park residents to leave by November 30, with a reason given that there would be a “change of use” for the property. Kropp did not indicate what that use would be in the future.
It’s not all bad news at GME, though. A couple of months ago, residents got a grant from Home Depot and with it they got a lawn mower … but Home Depot didn’t stop there by any means. They also sent a crew to the park to help with the effort. Headed by Specialty Sales Assistant Store Manager Riekki Benham, the group sent a day helping out as much as they could around the park. Leslie said there are approximately 28 veterans and veterans’ widows in the park and Home Depot is known to be a strong supporters of veterans.
“It is so awesome what they have done for us,” he said. “Riekki came out, looked at the park and said, ‘You guys are the forgotten ones.’ And that’s the truth.”
Another positive fact to report is that phase II of FEMA cleanup has started. They will be removing some of the homes that are completely destroyed. Homeowners have already removed tons of debris on their own, particularly from the water, but there is still plenty to do.
August 28 is the next court hearing. It was supposed to be two weeks ago, on a Monday, but there was a hiccup. Kropp was supposed to submit a re-organizational plan that could be reviewed by everyone, particularly park residents. The plan was submitted late, on the Friday prior to the court date that was supposed to take place on the following Monday. The judge said that was unacceptable, as the residents would have no time for review.
Earl Schworm built GME in the 1970s, then in 1983 sold it to John Weichel and Harold Whitcomb for just over $1.1 million. Schworm the little village and so did Whitcomb. He always told the residents that if he were to sell, they would have right of first refusal.
When he died, the park was passed down to his children. Carol Kropp is one of them. She also runs, and is heavily invested in, several other parks in central Florida, where she lives. Gasparilla Mobile Estates is not her first rodeo when it comes to mobile home part management, but it is one that has proven to be a very difficult “dogie” to take down.
