By Jane Feehan
New condominium and rental projects overtaking the Fort Lauderdale landscape like a bad dream calls for a look back to the 1970s. That decade witnessed a tremendous growth surge.
Haft-Gaines, led by University of North Carolina classmates Burt
Haft and Jack Gaines were at the helm of several high-profile developments in
Fort Lauderdale and later in Palm Beach County. According to news accounts
they ventured to Fort Lauderdale after reading a Kiplinger Letter about Florida’s
opportunities.
Gaines said in a 1970 interview that they started building houses in Pompano and Boca Raton. They soon turned their attention to Fort Lauderdale where they developed Imperial Pointe, The Landings and Bay Colony.
If
you think things are crazy now, note they charged an admission fee just to see models
of Bay Colony, touted then as the most expensive sub-division in the U.S. with
prices of $200,000 to $600,000. (News accounts indicated deposed President of
Nicaragua, Anastasio Somoza, was interested in a property at 100 Bay Colony
Lane).
Gaines had California on his mind. Not for developments but for inspiration. He wanted to bring California to Florida. He brought Richard Leitch and Associates of Newport, California to work magic on 1,000 acres off West Oakland Park Boulevard. Waterfalls, lakes, small, sculpted hills served as the backdrop of this new community of apartments, condos and houses.
This showstopper was Inverrary, a $500 million development opened in 1970. It was also the site of 21 tennis courts, three golf courses and a 14-room townhouse for Jackie Gleason overlooking a lake. ( For more use search for Gleason.) They reached $1 million in sales within days of launching the development. Haft-Gaines, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Fuqua Industries by 1970, moved their office from Imperial Point to Inverrary. That's where the action and headlines reigned.
One of those headlines was a White House ceremony in 1973
where First Lady Pat Nixon gave the Haft-Gaines company the “first-place-in-nation”
award among private firms for beautification efforts along a highway; that was
for Inverarry, where waterfalls mark its entrance and lakes dot its landscape. Company
Comptroller Chuck Tilbrook accepted the award on behalf of Haft-Gaines.
The company later developed Frenchmen’s Creek, an exclusive community
in Palm Beach Gardens. Jack Gaines died in 2004 at Juno Beach; Burt Haft died
in 2020 in Aventura. They set the standards for Florida developments and
understood the dynamic of real estate where “creating an emotionality” played a
key role in buying a house.
Copyright © 2022 All rights reserved. Jane Feehan
Sources:
Fort Lauderdale News, Jan. 31, 1970
Fort Lauderdale News, Oct. 10, 1970
Fort Lauderdale News, Feb. 20, 1971
Fort Lauderdale News, May 5, 1973
www.greensboro.com
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