PONTE VEDRA, Fla. — A reality TV star is moving to the First Coast.
Captain Sandy Yawn is the star of the hit show on Bravo, "Below Deck Mediterranean." She says she loves Jacksonville, and she's trying to build a home in Nocatee. Now she says the builder has disappeared.
"We dipped into our bank account and used every penny we had, and this is the finished product," she says, as she points to a home -- obviously not finished.
"The builder is MIA with all of our money," Yawn says. She says she and her fiancé, Leah Shafer, put 1.6 million dollars into the new home. Yawn says she's now having to hire work crews to finish her house, and it may cost them an extra $800,000.
Their home is in The Vista at Twenty Mile in Nocatee in St. Johns County.
Demetri Fishkin is another upset neighbor. He says, "We were supposed to be in about 18 months ago....and this is it."
Fishkin says he's spending an extra half a million dollars or more to finish his home. He's had to hire plumbers and electricians and other crews to come in and work.
He keeps a list of unfinished homes in The Vista, and he says there are 15 homes incomplete and 18 homes finished.
Lisa Sparks and her family were excited about moving into the neighborhood. She says they put "their life savings" into the home. She is angry, as other neighbors are, as well, at the builder, The Pineapple Corporation. She says she hasn't seen the builder in a year.
Leah Shafer, Yawn's fiancé, says, "We worked hard to pay for this house in cash. And it's gone...and now, basically, we're paying for this house twice."
The Pineapple Corporation says on its website it's built in Pablo Creek Reserve and specializes in luxury homes.
First Coast News reached out to the builder and received this email response:
“Pineapple Corporation is in communication with all parties involved to find an amiable solution. We do not disclose details of private negotiations.”
Spencer Calvert
President, The Pineapple Corporation
First Coast News also asked at the Nocatee Welcome Center what Nocatee will do to help people stuck now in The Vista. Some says they're paying mortgages on homes they can't even live in, homes they were supposed to be moving into 2-3 years ago.
At the Welcome Center, First Coast News was told more than 10,000 homes have been sold now in Nocatee, and their current list of developers does not include Pineapple Corporation. Neighbors show screen shots that the Pineapple Corporation used to be on the Nocatee list of developers.
The master developer for Nocatee is the PARC group. Calls to them were not answered.
