Cold Creek market gets hot

SANDUSKY — A public-private partnership positively impacted a site that, throughout its history, has experienced some notable negatives. About a year ago, in April 2021, Sandusky city commissioners contracted with Hoty Enterprises to sell several empty lots in Cold Creek Crossing, a west end housing subdivision off Venice Road (U.S. 6) near Toft Dairy. The city sought Hoty's help to sell the remaining 44 vacant parcels, breaking down with 40 single-family lots and four multi-family lots. Cold Creek boasts about 100 lots in total with, back then, only half having homes built on them. For a long time, officials described overall activity at Cold Creek as sluggish. But — due to many factors, including Hoty's involvement and high demand for housing these past two years — here's what happened at Cold Creek in the past 13 months. "Of the 40 residential lots at Cold Creek that were listed last spring with Hoty Enterprises Inc., 16 lots are sold and closed, and 24 lots are currently under contract," said Henry "Mac" Lehrer, a Hoty real estate agent overseeing these dealings. In other words, plans exist to develop every single-family lot. As of earlier this month, "There were approximately eight new homes currently under construction, with more construction beginning shortly," Lehrer said. There likely will be a plan emerging for the multi-family lots, Lehrer said. "There was a small condominium section previously started on Westwood Way during the initial development of Cold Creek Crossing, but, in all likelihood, the residents of Cold Creek Crossing and leadership within the city of Sandusky will need to jointly collaborate on what the next phase of development will look like at Cold Creek Crossing." To work on selling and developing the multi-family lots, commissioners extended the agreement with Hoty for another year, now going through mid-2023. The contract's main terms carry over into this renewed arrangement. "The city is committed to continuing collaboration with the current residents to determine the best use of these parcels going forward," city housing development specialist Debi Eversole said. "Additionally, there can be no sales of these parcels without first obtaining our city commission approval." Working together Back in spring 2021, officials entered into a contract agreement with Hoty. The deal gave Hoty exclusive rights to market and sell the city-owned parcels in Cold Creek. Hoty received "a broker's fee of 6.5% of the selling price of any property sold," said Jonathan Holody, the city's community development director. Holody said sale prices for single-family lots ranged between $23,800 and $32,100. The multi-family property lots remain at $8,000 per unit. All told, the city received about $254,000 from lot sales. The money funnels back into Sandusky's budget specifically for other community development-related projects. Holody explained the benefits of linking up with Hoty. The partnership has: • Brought new money into the city • Reduced the city's cost to maintain vacant land • Positioned these properties for new home construction • Provided opportunities for Sandusky and Cold Creek to retain existing residents as well as attract new ones "Hoty has the experience and resources to help the city connect with those buyers," Holody said. Lehrer said it's worked well partnering with the city. "We, Hoty Enterprises, enjoy an excellent working relationship with all members of the community development team, law director, city manager and, of course, the city commission," Lehrer said. "Our core culture of being area leaders in real estate development, brokerage and management make our firm a great fit with the city." Eversole offered mirroring sentiments. "It is evident that Hoty Enterprises was the right choice for this particular project and that shows in the number of sales that they produced," she said. "Their team worked very hard to obtain these sale agreements in just under 12 months' time, and the city is very confident in our continued partnership moving forward." Context on Cold Creek Badly burned by the underdeveloped Cold Creek Crossing property, Sandusky officials believe they can transform it into a hot real estate commodity. For several years, city workers have acquired tax-delinquent and/or vacant lots through a foreclosure process in the sparsely populated subdivision. Cold Creek Crossing, receiving a $4.1 million public subsidy from Sandusky taxpayers in the mid-2000s, faced numerous issues because of negligence by its former owner, Joe Yost. Yost once owed about $1.2 million in back taxes on the property, according to county records. The financial fiasco effectively halted any new development and has since stymied it. That problem and others — including Yost also owing $300,000 in utilities charges for his now-defunct Hoppers mobile home park — landed him a 180-day jail sentence and 500 hours of community service in 2014.