With developers slowly running out of waterfront property, a Florida entrepreneur has found a way to create new 'land'
DESTIN, Fla., Jan. 13, 2006 -- Pensacola native Mark Boyd had been a consultant to a number of Gulf Coast Condo real estate developers when he realized that it wouldn't be long before there was no more prime waterfront property available anywhere in the state. "With nearly eighty-million baby boomers starting to retire this year, and a large number of them wanting to live where it's warm, someone needed to come up with a solution, so I thought of assembling a group of investors to purchase a cruise ship and convert the cabins to condominiums," Boyd said recently.Upon researching the idea, he developed a formula to produce the typical $15 million annually it takes to operate a mid-size luxury cruise ship. As a result, the condo owners will only pay a standard condo fee of between $7-10,000 a year for a suite costing from $349,000 to $529,000, and that's all. Boyd won't divulge the formula, but says a portion of the fee is derived from the ongoing casino and nightclub operations on the ship............
