This interview was conducted over several meetings during the last several months by Kent Lillie, past President of the Sandestin Owners Association Board of Directors and Thomas Becnel.

To read the summary of the recent SandestinVoters "Lunch & Learn" event with Mr. Becnel and watch the video of Mr Becnel's speech, follow this link.

Kent:  Congratulations on your pending purchase of most of the Sandestin assets from Intrawest.  When do you expect to close?

Tom:  Thanks Kent, it’s a lot to say grace over for sure.  Our objective is to close no later than the first week of March but everything in this deal has taken more time than expected.  It’s been a long road and we’ve finally resolved all of our issues.  It would seem that closing is just a formality at this time.

Kent:   How long were you in negotiations and due diligence?

Tom:  Truth is I’ve been interested in Sandestin for years and took a very hard look back in the 90’s before Intrawest (IW) eventually purchased it.  On this go-around we worked for well over a year and it was a very difficult agreement to reach.  As many of your homeowners know, it’s a complicated resort with a great many assets along with a few liabilities and frankly, Intrawest hasn’t kept the most accurate records over the years.

Unfortunately for all of us most especially the homeowners, we were prohibited from communicating our status given that Fortress Investment roup (owners of IW) is a publicly traded company so I know that it’s been difficult on residents as well.  Unfortunately most rumors tend to be negative and are generally untrue.

Kent:  Exactly what assets are you purchasing Tom?

Tom:  The primary assets are:  The Golf Courses (and no I have no plans to sell them); The Marina, The Sandestin Tennis Center; The Convention businesses, the Finz restaurant, the part of the Village that is referred to as Adventure Lane (a Real Estate Partnership between CNA and IW will continue to own and operate the balance of the Village); several businesses in the Village including both Starbucks; the health club: about one hundred condominiums at Bayside Inn; the real estate sales division; the rental businesses; several management contracts including those for the Marriott hotels adjacent to the East Gate; Employee Housing which is east of Sandestin near Highway 98 and 30A; The Beach Club and Owner’s Club; the transportation system; and certain development rights.  I think that’s about all.

Should CNA be interested in selling the balance of the Village, we would be interested in exploring that as well.  One asset that we are not buying is the Market Shops adjacent to the South Gate which is owned by a third party.

We will also be taking on several liabilities including those to members of our various clubs as well as litigation going forward, brought by Beachside 

Kent:   Any development plans at this time.

Tom:   Not yet.  We are first and foremost interested in getting the daily operations of the commercial businesses under control and functioning more efficiently and effectively!  Frankly they’ve been neglected for several years which are certainly not in any of our best interests including the homeowners.

However, I am interested in fitness and work out almost daily. I would like to improve, expand and relocate the health club and would be happy to hear from homeowners how best to do that.

Kent:   Will you retain current IW management and who will be the Senior Manager on property?

Tom:   Absolutely!  I have great respect and confidence in John Russell and his team.  They are real professionals.  They’ve done a remarkable job in the last year under the most difficult of circumstances.  I think that the homeowners and I are very well served by their leadership.  I’ll be involved of course, but they will be responsible for the day to day operations.

Kent:   I know from our many discussions that you are unsatisfied with the current transportation system on property.

Tom:  No question about it.  It’s one of the first areas that we’re going to attack to improve and make much more efficient for guests and homeowners alike!

We have explored replacing the big blue diesel eating monsters with much more energy efficient and smaller vehicles, possibly natural gas or electric or both.  We’re also analyzing a “hub and spoke” system that could provide all guests and residents a much more dependable and enjoyable riding experience.  It is my hope that working closely with the SOA we can design and build a system that homeowners will regularly use that will be more efficient, dependable and enjoyable for the majority of their in-resort travel.  If we achieve that, then we will all enjoy a much more pleasurable experience throughout the resort with fewer traffic and parking problems, especially during peak periods.

Kent:   We’ve discussed that you might move your family to Sandestin.

Tom:  We’ll be closing on a house in Burnt Pine in several weeks.  I have a young family and we’re all very much looking forward to enjoying all that Sandestin has to offer.  So this just won’t be a business for us, it will be our home and community as well.

Kent:  Please tell homeowners about the Committee you have formed to help you with transition.

Tom:  It would be a mistake for me to come here with only my opinions and beliefs on how to improve the resort, our lifestyle and property value without consulting with homeowners.

So to that end, I have asked several leading members of the SOA to recommend homeowners to form an “owner’s transition committee” to bounce ideas off and to recommend changes that will benefit us all. We hope to have our first meeting soon.

Kent:  What is your “grand plan” for the Resort?

Tom:  Our vision is for Sandestin to be a financially successful, environmentally friendly, responsibly developed Community.  A Community with national recognition as a place to vacation and live.  We want a first class, fully integrated resort that will provide unique benefits to all of our constituencies, including homeowners, guests, renters and employees.

Kent:   Anything else that you would like to add?

Tom:   Nothing at his time other than to say that my family and I very much look forward to meeting and socializing with Sandestin Homeowners and to being respected members of this great Community.

In conclusion I would like to say that all of my dealings with Tom have been above board and very pleasant.  Through his hard effort we have been able to resolve all of our issues with Intrawest which include favorable resolutions to two lawsuits that involve resort access, village disturbance, and our founding documents, including the infamous 2004 Quit Claim deed and Intrawest’s 2003 extension of the Declarations.  These will all be resolved at closing.

He’s offered creative solutions, has always kept his word and has been available at almost any time we’ve needed to talk or meet and he has regularly communicated to me that he wants to be a respected member of the community.

It would be naïve to say that Tom doesn’t come with some baggage but in my view he’s off to a great start and I certainly wish him well.

We’ll check back with him in a couple of months and report back to you then.

Kent Lillie

President 

SandestinVoters