Karlin Daniel, left, and spotter Wesley Davis, standing, conduct the auction of the Sun Valley Citrus packing and storage facility on Thursday in Fort Pierce.  The facility was sold for 3.3. million.

Sold! Palm City group buys facility

By Chris Kauffmann
staff writer

FORT PIERCE -- A Palm City real estate investment group posted the winning bid of $3.3 million Thursday for a 31-acre citrus pacing and storage facility in Fort Pierce.
   The bid, which came during a two-hour, court-ordered fore-closure auction on the Bell Avenue property owned by Sun Valley cold Storage, was almost three times the property's assessed value of $1.3 million.
   In addition to the $3.3 million, the new owners, 3 Golden Holdings LLC, also will have to pay back taxes on the property of about $200,000. Stuart

 auctioneer Karlin Daniel said.
   Although the winning bid was considerably higher that the assessed value, James Sebastiano, a principal of  3 Golden Holdings, said he was "shocked" that it went for such a small amount.
   "I thought it would go for $5 (million) to $6 million." said Sebastiano, who has as partners Palm City residents Leo Cueto and Norman Zlinkoff.
   Sebastiano said the company will fix up the property, rent out some of the buildings and simply hold on to it as an investment.  The company has "hundreds" of real estate properties, many of which are

 residential, up and down the coast, but mostly on the Treasure coast, he said.
   The company was one of about eight active groups bidding on portions or all of the property, Daniel said.
   "Everybody's happy:  it was a good day for the buyer and a good day for the seller and the courts, " Daniel said.
   The property, which is zoned industrial, was sold after a court ordered a foreclosure sale May 10.  Sun Valley long had financial problems, with debts of up to $6 million.  The financial problems led to the loss of its citrus dealer license at the end of 2002.

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