The Florida developer who presides over the only company seeking to revitalize Bristol’s downtown says he owns 20 commercial projects in nine states, including a fishing resort in Alaska and oil wells in West Virginia.
“The developed value of his current projects will top $2 billion,” one of Ron Legrand’s websites says, with much of the profit shared with “student partners” who have shelled out thousands of dollars to attend his real estate investing seminars.
In an online column, Legrand called himself “a gung ho guy who gets more done than most any other five people I know” and would “rather have a root canal than lie on the beach and kill a day.”
Legrand’s Jacksonville-Fla.-based business empire consists of selling get-rich-quick advice and investing in real estate deals. Much of the deal-making involves residences, but Legrand is also involved in a number of commercial ventures.
Legrand’s Heritage Financial Group was the only company that expressed interest in redeveloping the city-owned, 17-acre former downtown mall site. For the opportunity to be the preferred developer, the firm offered $1.5 million in a complex arrangement.
Though the company said it had other commercial projects, it didn’t provide any information about them in its application to the Bristol Downtown Development Corp.
However, by piecing together bits and pieces of information on dozens of websites connected to Legrand, a picture of some of its ventures emerge.
Legrand, who bills himself as the “Millionaire Maker” and the “King of the Quick Turn” runs Global Publishing, which puts out his books and operates out of the same building as Heritage. He said it takes a lot of his time.
But he’s also got his eye on some commercial property across the country.
Legrand bought the Salmon Falls Resort in Ketchikan, Alaska, a spot he called “my favorite vacation place in the world.” It caters mostly to salmon fishing fanatics. Legrand said he’s selling time shares there.
Elsewhere, he said he’s building 123 condominiums on 36 acres in Chattanooga, Tenn. and 400 more in Myrtle Beach, S.C. He said he’s also selling lots and buildings houses in another Myrtle Beach project.
Legrand said that he has a 188,000-square-foot Florida warehouse project beside an airport, as well as oil and gas wells in West Virginia.
There’s a golf resort in Mission, Texas, too, where Mark Lapoint, the man cited as Bristol’s project manager, is in charge.
Legrand is also developing “a mixed use project” in a Chicago suburb where he also acquired a 42,000-square-foot building for $252,000.
He said he is turning a 134-acre site in North Carolina into a residential subdivision and 106 acres in Pennsylvania into “a commercial community.”
In Michigan, Legrand said, he has “a total of five land projects under development or completed into housing lots, hotels, restaurants, RV parks, cabins and commercial.”
In his advertising for a July “Commercial Property Boot Camp” in Myrtle Beach, Legrand said on the site he will “share everything I know about building wealth” during the four-day seminar. “We'll cover raw land for residential and commercial development, apartments, office buildings, strip centers, office warehouses, industrial buildings, mobile home parks, special use buildings and more," Legrand said.
Legrand said that “one of my students I met 18 months ago had an eight-digit net worth increase last year alone because he and I teamed up on some commercial projects he brought me.“You’ll see how he did it without using a dime of his money or credit and how you can join me this year to get filthy, stinking rich yourself.
“We can grow together by leveraging your time and my expertise into some large projects in commercial property of all types in your market.“You don’t need experience or money. You will need a little training and commitment coupled with the right kind of research. It can be huge for you if you want to play.”
The BDDC plans to discuss Heritage's offer at its Monday, June 16 meeting at City Hall.
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Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
8 comments:
McCauley says, "like it or not the city is in the real estate business".
Well then I think he (McCauley) should negotiate with this guy (Legrand) himself since he (McCauley) knows so much.
So, where's the example of Legrand's successful project that involved the revitalization of an urban center of a small city?
Bristol deserves better than promises of some mish-mosh pie-in-the-sky theme park pipe dream.
Somebody in this town needs to visit this specific success story and report their observations before Bristol's downtown is handed over on a silver platter.
If this revitalized urban downtown project exists, what do the people who live in that specific town think about it?
How about it Steve Collins, willing to take that trip?
Mr. Legrand is in the info commercial and book selling business. The only project I could find his name on is Salmon Falls resort in Alaska. In searching his name in the cities he said he has projects in I can only find listings of his seminars. Like to see some proof of what he has done. The word complex makes me think of a lot of front money from the city of Bristol. Enron again?
Salmon Falls, Alaska.
The nature's revitalized urban center for fish!
For those of you who don't know Mr. LeGrand I suggest you take a closer look. This guy has made hundreds of millions of dollars developing property all over the country. If ANYONE can do this project he can! Are you going to let a REPORTER -- who knows NOTHING about real estate tell you what to think. Geez -- get a grip!
Yes, Ron LeGrand has a varied background. But I can assure you from PERSONAL experience, he and his company do what they say they will do. Who else can you point to that does that?
Perhaps you should investigate Mr. LeGrand further. Yes, he's got a successful resort in Alaska, yes, he's got several successful developments in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. He's also got a couple of restaurants, several other commercial real estate projects all over the country - including the one in Mission Texas -- which just happens to be the number on fastest growing community in the country. Could it be? He knows what he's doing?
One thing I know for sure is that the internet is totally available to those who know the truth as well as to those who do not.
Bristol needs to do their homework. Yes, Ron LeGrand does seminars -- so what? He also does quality developments. Check it out. Do not be duped by the naysayers who know not of what they speak.
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