/ our story
the legacy Story
The evolution of Legacy Group began in 1976 when James Hall, a Midwesterner, first visited
Florida intending to stay a week but stayed a month.
As a result, he purchased eleven apartment units across the road from the Atlantic Ocean in Highland Beach just North of Boca Raton, which he made into condo villa units and quickly sold all but three, which were on the Intracoastal waterway. Keeping one of those units on the water for himself, he became a “snowbird”.
During that visit, he combined enjoying the pleasures of Florida living with a plethora of due diligence about Florida’s history and its real estate business. James concluded that Florida was a “Frontier” with many years ahead of it for lucrative real estate investment like California had been after World War II. So began his love affair with Florida, investment in Florida real estate, and eventually permanent residency.
In the years thereafter, James focused successfully on buying apartments and condos to refurbish and rent in the Boca and Delray area. Eventually, James was tired of being a landlord and was drawn to trying the land development and building business. He felt there would always be a market for starter homes in Florida for new families. So, in 1999 he purchased three parcels of land located just West of the I-95 Interstate and Stuart, Florida, on the Cross Florida Barge Canal that connects both the East and West Coasts of the State through Lake Okeechobee. More importantly, it provided great boating and fishing access nearby and to the large bodies of water in the Stuart area with access to the Atlantic Ocean. By then, James had learned the value of waterfront property with ocean access.
The land became two projects named River Forest and River Marina for about 1000 starter homes for the area’s first responders, teachers, and other stalwarts. It was well conceived, built, and sold out quickly at exponentially increasing prices. See www.riverforest.com and www.rivermarina.com. While doing the project, James met Richard Bellinger. Richard was a native Floridian from Coral Gables, with BBA and MBA degrees from the University of Miami, who had for the previous 20 years been working for Jack Nicklaus, the famous golf professional, as COO, CFO, and the last 10 years as CEO of all the Nicklaus’ businesses. His knowledge and experience in real estate development in Florida, the United States, and even around the World were vast.
James’s meeting with Richard changed both worlds permanently. The success with River Forest and River Marina had left him ready to do bigger projects. He had already put several major parcels of land under contract in St. Lucie County for over 7000 units of residential units and significant commercial space. James and Richard became 50/50 partners, and Legacy Group was born.
In 2000-2001 James Hall and Richard Bellinger felt that any major new development had to happen in St. Lucie County. The main reasons for that were: Palm Beach County had virtually halted any further significant approvals of further residential property; a huge demand still existed for affordable housing within a reasonable driving distance from West Palm Beach/Palm Beach County, and Martin County would seldom approve any new development in their County. Thus, property that was approved or easily approved in St. Lucie County, Ft. Pierce, and Port St. Lucie was the best option for future growth. Few big developers developing in the South were yet to consider that area.
Given this belief, James and Richard contracted to buy three properties in 2000-2001 on good terms (named by us): 1) (Willow Lakes)-an 800-acre parcel on the Northwest corner of I-95 and Midway Road, which could be approved for over 3000 residential units and a lot of commercial space; 2) (North Pointe)- a 2000 acre parcel named LTC Ranch approved for 4000 residential units and 500,000 sq ft of commercial space, and 3) (Savanna Lakes)- a 125-acre parcel on Highway 1 near Midway Road in Ft. Pierce, with an expired PUD approval which could be renewed for 885 residential units and 10 acres of commercial property.
Over the next six years, all the approvals and entitlements for those properties that would allow them to be built on were obtained, and the three properties were sold by Legacy as follows: Savanna- bought for $1.2M in 2001 and sold in 2003 for $10M cash; Willow- bought in 2000 for $10M; 200 acres sold in 2000 for $2M cash and 400 acres sold in 2004 for $25M cash; south 200 acres on the exit retained; North Pointe- bought in 2001 for $25M, sold in 2006 for $110M cash.
During 2003-2006, Legacy also purchased and obtained approvals for four other projects in Palm Coast, Wellington, Naples, and Hutchison Island, substantially increasing their value. From 2000-2010 Legacy Group also successfully created a fractional ownership business and developed three such projects located at luxury, iconic golf clubs.
From 2009 to 2011, due to the 2008 downturn and crash, James and Richard created the Legacy Group Fund to raise $100M to purchase distressed properties. A PowerPoint Presentation and the Private Placement Memorandum are both available for review. The details of the acquisition, development, approvals, and sale of the seven properties referred to above are also clearly outlined in those documents.
From 2009-20011, given Richard’s excellent golf club community development knowledge, Legacy Group planned and developed a luxury golf club community for a famous PGA Tour golf pro on a parcel of land we controlled near Jupiter. While at the Nicklaus company, Richard had previously been closely involved in many such projects, including the purchase of land, its approval, and the creation of The Bear’s Club Golf Club Community of Jack Nicklaus located in Jupiter and the Ritz Carlton Golf Club
next to it for a group of private investors.
During more recent years, after the Covid problem, Legacy pursued a good number of well-priced projects that were available. Legacy partnered with another party to buy and obtain approvals for two of those: 1) a 150-acre parcel on Highway 1 in Port St. Lucie, for which we obtained approvals for 500 residential units; and 2) a 125-acre parcel on Highway 1 in Ft. Pierce, which we had owned in 2003 called Savanna Lakes and sold to a builder who had given it back to its bank during the 2008 and after the downturn, for which new renewed approvals for 885 residential units were obtained. Thereafter approvals have obtained both properties were sold to one builder for a total profit of approximately $10M.
Recently, after meeting and working with Brent Howells for a substantial amount of time, for many good reasons, James and Richard asked Brent Howells to be an equal partner in Legacy Group with them to develop further the present projects each has and for all future projects.
See the Present Projects section on this website for more details.
Legacy now has offices in Jupiter, Orlando, and Houston, Texas. Together Legacy Partners manage all their present projects directly and outsource as much as possible all needed professional assistance, usually from numerous companies and individuals we have all dealt with for many years. We use the best people in each area where we have a project, including lawyers, financial advisors, engineers, land planners, environmental matters, and various construction experts, to take a property from raw land to a finished project. Right now, we manage about 100 different people from about 15-20 separate companies to develop about 10 projects.
/ our story
the legacy Story
The evolution of Legacy Group began in 1976 when James Hall, a Midwesterner, first visited
Florida intending to stay a week but stayed a month.
As a result, he purchased eleven apartment units across the road from the Atlantic Ocean in Highland Beach, just North of Boca Raton, which he made into condo villa units and quickly sold all but three, which were on the Intracoastal waterway. Keeping one of those units on the water for himself, he became a “snowbird”.
During that visit, he combined enjoying the pleasures of Florida living with a plethora of due diligence about Florida’s history and its real estate business. James concluded that Florida was a “Frontier” with many years ahead of it for lucrative real estate investment like California had been after World War II. So began his love affair with Florida, investment in Florida real estate, and eventually permanent residency.
In the years thereafter, James focused successfully on buying apartments and condos to refurbish and rent in the Boca and Delray area. Eventually, James was tired of being a landlord and was drawn to trying the land development and building business. He felt there would always be a market for starter homes in Florida for new families. So, in 1999, he purchased three parcels of land located just West of the I-95in Stuart, Florida, on the Cross Florida Barge Canal that connects both the East and West Coasts of the State through Lake Okeechobee. More importantly, it provided great boating and fishing access nearby and to the large bodies of water in the Stuart area with access to the Atlantic Ocean. By then, James had learned the value of waterfront property with ocean access.
The land became two projects named River Forest and River Marina for about 1000 starter homes for the area’s first responders, teachers, and other stalwarts. It was well conceived, built, and sold out quickly at exponentially increasing prices (see www.
James’s meeting with Richard changed both worlds permanently. The success with River Forest and River Marina had left him ready to do bigger projects. He had already put several major parcels of land under contract in St. Lucie County for over 7000 units of residential units and significant commercial space. James and Richard became 50/50 partners, and Legacy Group was born.
In 2000-2001 James Hall and Richard Bellinger felt that any major new development had to happen in St. Lucie County. The main reasons for that were: Palm Beach County had virtually halted any further significant approvals of further residential property; a huge demand still existed for affordable housing within a reasonable driving distance from West Palm Beach/Palm Beach County, and Martin County would seldom approve any new development in their County. Thus, property that was approved or easily approved in St. Lucie County, Ft. Pierce, and Port St. Lucie was the best option for future growth. Few big developers developing in the South were yet to consider that area.
Given this belief, James and Richard contracted to buy three properties in 2000-2001 on good terms (named by us): 1) (Willow Lakes)-an 800-acre parcel on the Northwest corner of I-95 and Midway Road, which could be approved for over 3000 residential units and a lot of commercial space; 2) (North Pointe)- a 2000 acre parcel named LTC Ranch approved for 4000 residential units and 500,000 sq ft of commercial space, and 3) (Savanna Lakes)- a 125-acre parcel on Highway 1 near Midway Road in Ft. Pierce, with an expired PUD approval which could be renewed for 885 residential units and 10 acres of commercial property.
Over the next six years, all the approvals and entitlements for those properties that would allow them to be built on were obtained, and the three properties were sold by Legacy as follows: Savanna- bought for $1.2M in 2001 and sold in 2003 for $10M cash; Willow- bought in 2000 for $10M; 200 acres sold in 2000 for $2M cash and 400 acres sold in 2004 for $25M cash; south 200 acres on the exit retained; North Pointe- bought in 2001 for $25M, sold in 2006 for $110M cash.
During 2003-2006, Legacy also purchased and obtained approvals for four other projects in Palm Coast, Wellington, Naples, and Hutchison Island, substantially increasing their value. From 2000-2010 Legacy Group also successfully created a fractional ownership business and developed three such projects located at luxury, iconic golf clubs.
From 2009 to 2011, due to the 2008 downturn and crash, James and Richard created the Legacy Group Fund to raise $100M to purchase distressed properties. A PowerPoint Presentation and the Private Placement Memorandum are both available for review. The details of the acquisition, development, approvals, and sale of the seven properties referred to above are also clearly outlined in those documents.
From 2009-20011, given Richard’s excellent golf club community development knowledge, Legacy Group planned and developed a luxury golf club community for a famous PGA Tour golf pro on a parcel of land we controlled near Jupiter. While at the Nicklaus company, Richard had previously been closely involved in many such projects, including the purchase of land, its approval, and the creation of The Bear’s Club Golf Club Community of Jack Nicklaus located in Jupiter and the Ritz Carlton Golf Club
next to it for a group of private investors.
During more recent years, after the Covid problem, Legacy pursued a good number of well-priced projects that were available. Legacy partnered with another party to buy and obtain approvals for two of those: 1) a 150-acre parcel on Highway 1 in Port St. Lucie, for which we obtained approvals for 500 residential units; and 2) a 125-acre parcel on Highway 1 in Ft. Pierce, which we had owned in 2003 called Savanna Lakes and sold to a builder who had given it back to its bank during the 2008 and after the downturn, for which new renewed approvals for 885 residential units were obtained. Thereafter approvals have obtained both properties were sold to one builder for a total profit of approximately $10M.
Recently, after meeting and working with Brent Howells for a substantial amount of time, for many good reasons, James and Richard asked Brent Howells to be an equal partner in Legacy Group with them to develop further the present projects each has and for all future projects.
See the Present Projects section on this website for more details.
Legacy now has offices in Jupiter, Orlando, and Houston, Texas. Together Legacy Partners manage all their present projects directly and outsource as much as possible all needed professional assistance, usually from numerous companies and individuals we have all dealt with for many years. We use the best people in each area where we have a project, including lawyers, financial advisors, engineers, land planners, environmental matters, and various construction experts, to take a property from raw land to a finished project. Right now, we manage about 100 different people from about 15-20 separate companies to develop about 10 projects.
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