BRADENTON BEACH – Some Pines Trailer Park residents who withheld lot rental payments following last year’s hurricanes were served with demand for payment notices on March 17. The notices required either immediate payment of the full amounts of past due lot rental fees or vacating the premises within five days.
The notices, taped to the doors of mobile homes at the park and sent by certified mail, are from park ownership Pines Park Investors LLC and the Agent for Community, The Urban Group.
“You have failed to pay lot rental amount for the period through March 17, 2025 in the amount of ($…). The total amount due as of the date of this demand is ($…),” the notice states, with amounts due varying by unit.
“Demand is hereby made that you pay the total lot rental amount now due, or deliver possession of the premises to the undersigned within five days from the date of delivery of this notice (allowing five days from the postmark date, excluding Saturday, Sunday and legal holidays). If the total lot rental amount now due is not paid on or before April 1, 2025, your lease agreement is terminated and you must immediately vacate the premises.”
The letter states that if lot rental payment is not made and premises are not vacated, an eviction action will be taken, and the recipient may be liable for court costs and attorney’s fees. The letter also states that late charges and delinquency fees will also be due.
The letter closes with: “Please govern yourself accordingly.”
On Dec. 9, 83 of the 86 Pines Trailer Park homeowners received notice from the city that they could repair their hurricane-damaged mobile homes with the proper permits. On Jan. 4, however, the homeowners received notification from the park’s ownership that the park was being closed: “As a direct result of the community-wide damage dealt by hurricanes Helene & Milton, coupled with non-payment of lot rent, Pines Trailer Park is no longer sustainable as a trailer park and must be closed, with an official park closure date of July 31, 2025.”
In a Jan. 27 letter to the Pines Trailer Park Homeowners Association (HOA), Pines Park Investors LLC offered to sell the mobile home park to the residents for $75 million.
On Aug. 5, 2023, Pines Park Investors, LLC purchased the 2.78-acre waterfront mobile home property from The Jackson Partnership LLLP for $16.25 million.
Pines Trailer Park homeowners received an email in February outlining terms for abandonment of their mobile homes and possible extension of their tenancy to Jan. 31, 2026. Those terms include transferring the ownership of their mobile homes to Pines Park Investors LLC.
Resident defends nonpayment
Pines residents have contended that they withheld lot rent payments due to the disrepair of the park following the hurricanes and lack of amenities that are included in the lot fees.
“Nothing has been repaired. The clubhouse is a mess, there is no laundry facility or showers,” said one Pines resident who asked not to be named. “After the hurricanes we cleaned the park up ourselves and many people paid for their own dumpsters.”
The parking lot for nearly half of the Pines residents was converted to paid parking in December.
Developer Shawn Kaleta is the manager of Pines Park Investors LLC.
“If he (Kaleta) had come here even once after the hurricanes and shown some caring and taken care of the damage here, everyone would have been paying their rent,” the resident said.
That resident, who has lived at the park for more than 30 years, is packing up their belongings from the mobile home.
“I’m not a snowbird. I’m not a tourist,” the resident said. “This was my home.”
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