Home values sag as project crawls to completion

Some home owners at an unfinished residential development on Jog Road near Boynton Beach worry about property depreciation as the developer struggles to complete the project.

The developer, John B. Kennelly, planned to build 100 single-family homes at The Estates at Boynton Waters but has failed to finish 24 of them, even though he launched the development more than a decade ago.

A Kennelly company, Estates of Boynton Waters West Corp., is trying to renew expired building permits and resume construction.

Last year, Palm Beach County officials determined that building permits for 11 of the 100 planned homes at the Estates of Boynton Waters had expired.

In May, the county’s Construction Board of Adjustments and Appeals gave Kennelly, 89, two more years to finish construction at the Estates of Boynton Waters.

Claudia Langieri, a resident of the unfinished development, told the Sun-Sentinel she paid $837,448 for her home in 2006, and the county assessed it at $398,847 for property tax purposes in 2015 .

Lisa Glennon, another resident, lives across the street from a half-completed home and next to a vacant lot where a construction crane has been parked for weeks. Glennon’s home was assessed at $437,671 last year, well below her $790,492 purchase price in 2006.

Resident Alan Hess told the Sun-Sentinel that the county assessed his home at the Estates of Boynton Waters at about half of his $670,000 purchase price in 2006.

John Thomas, director of residential appraisal services for the Palm Beach County Property Appraiser’s office, told the newspaper that the unfinished condition of the Estates of Boynton Waters pushes down on property values.

“Anytime you have a property that looks like it’s in jeopardy,” he said, “buyers don’t want to move there because they don’t know what the future is going to be.” [Sun-Sentinel] — Mike Seemuth