Gulf American Land Corporation
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- Leonard Rosen
- Jack Rosen
| Industry | Land development |
|---|---|
| Founded | July 18, 1957[1] |
| Founders |
|
| Defunct | February 24, 1969[1] |
| Fate | Acquired by General Acceptance Corporation |
| Subsidiaries | Modern Air Transport (1966-1975) |
Gulf American Land Corporation (GALC) was a land development company in Florida founded by brothers Leonard and Jack Rosen. During the late 1950s and 1960s, GALC was the largest land sales company in the United States.[2] The company is noted for its role in the development of Cape Coral, and pioneering the sales method of installment land purchases.
In the late 1960s, GALC sold 173,000 mi (278,000 km) of swampland, dubbed Golden Gate Estates, to about 40,000 buyers. Many buyers bought plots that were submerged underwater. Gulf American built 183 mi (295 km) of roads and 813 mi (1,308 km) of flood control canals advertising Golden Gate Estates as semi-improved land, though there were no public utilities or services. The fill resulting from digging flood control canals was used to raise the land level to comply with legal requirements for minimum building elevation. The canals drain 233 billion US gal (880 billion L) of fresh water a year into Naples Bay, damaging the coastal saltwater ecology while causing the groundwater table to drop 2 ft (0.61 m) to 4 ft (1.2 m). The Florida Department of Business Regulation (FDBR) adopted real estate development reforms in the 1970s because of such abuses.[3][4]
In 1969, GALC (or Gulf American Corp) and its sister companies were taken over by General Acceptance Corporation.[5]
Leonard and Jack Rosen began their business career as street vendors in Baltimore.[4] They used the earnings of their original business and high-interest loans advanced by Chicago financier Jay Pritzker to set up a real estate development company selling yet-to-be developed plots of land in northwest Florida Everglades to prospective homeowners from the Northeast and Midwest. This involved Rosen's 1957 purchase of 103 sq mi (270 km2) of land located in pristine mangrove swamps for $678,000 and the establishment of offices in strategically important Northeastern and Midwestern towns and cities, where prospective customers were enticed by using high-pressure sales techniques to take a day trip to Southwest Florida to inspect developments and commit to a purchase.[4][5] Leonard would be convinced by Milt Mendelsohn to create these developments in Florida.[6]
Land development business
The Rosen's land purchase in November 1957 was followed by the start of construction in January 1958, and the first completed units were occupied by residents soon after. The same year, the Rosens also founded Gulf American Land Corporation (GALC).[5]
GALC organized day trips for prospective customers by using their airline, Gulf American Airlines, which operated a shuttle service linking Miami to Fort Myers Page Field using a fleet of five Douglas DC-3s. Page Field was the closest airport to GALC's Cape Coral residential development (which prospective customers accessed by complimentary bus transfers from the airport).[4][5] From 1958, GALC also began contracting US supplemental carrier[nb 1] Modern Air to fly prospective customers from the Northeast and Midwest into Miami, where they transferred between Modern Air's Curtiss C-46s and Gulf American Airlines' DC-3s en route to and from Fort Myers.[7] These flights formed part of Gulf American Land's free sales pitch and were free for prospective customers, who were also served a free meal on board the aircraft on each leg of their journey.[8] GALC's business eventually accounted for 25% of Modern Air's total business.[7]
To protect themselves against buyers attempting to wriggle out of the contractual terms of their purchase agreements with GALC following a sudden change of mind and potential defaulters, plots were oversold.[4] Gulf American started getting complaints against their sales practices in the early 1960s. Governor Haydon Burns responded to this criticism by placing Leonard Rosen on Florida's Installment Land Sales Board, which was created to investigate these complaints.[6]
On June 29, 1966, Modern Air became a wholly owned subsidiary of GALC after purchasing the airline's entire participating interest from its previous owner, John Becker, for $807,500 in May-June 1966.[9][10][7] GALC's acquisition of Modern Air resulted in the consolidation of the airline's operations at Miami International Airport[nb 2] and its merger with Gulf American Airlines.[4]
In December 1966, GALC's stockholder meeting resolved to drop "Land" from its name to shorten it to Gulf American Corporation (GAC) to reflect its increasing diversification and approved an employee stock purchase plan worth $600,000.[7][4] This saw GAC and Modern Air become wholly owned subsidiaries of newly created holding company GAC Corporation, with all real estate related business activities being absorbed into newly formed GAC Corp subsidiary GAC Properties.[11]
In 1967, the people of Florida elected Claude R. Kirk Jr. Governor. Kirk promised, "The era of 'let the buyer beware' is over. Let the unscrupulous seller beware." Kirk appointed a new seven-member Land Sales Board that took office on August 1. The Land Sales Board soon ordered Gulf American to show the board why Gulf American's registration certificate to sell land in Florida should not be revoked or suspended. As a result, the American Stock Exchange suspended all trading of Gulf American's stock. Gulf American would plead guilty to 5 charges of fraud or misleading practices in early November.[12] Accused of fraudulent sales practices, Gulf American suspended all sales for 30 days.[5] The court appointed 5 outsiders to monitor Gulf American for a probation period lasting 150 days, a $5,000 fine and required them to issue refunds to buyers who had legitimate grievances. Less than a week after this, Arizona's Santa Cruz County commission approved their Rio Rico development. In 1968, Gulf American was sued for $4.14 million in total in February. Two separate Massachusetts corporations alleged Gulf American misled them about properties purchased and that Gulf American did not provide them with property reports. Another suit came from a Detroit couple who said salesmen misled them about their lot's location, saying it would be 2 1/2 city blocks from the Gulf of Mexico when it was 9 miles (14 km) away.[12]
The financial status began to worsen for the company in the late 1960s.[12] According to Leonard Rosen, the Rosen's total accumulated net profit from property-related activities amounted to $100 million, while GAC's stock was valued at $150 million by the end of the 1960s.[5] At some point, they would get involved in British Honduras, operating the subsidiary Collgerry Reality Inc. to manage their land acquisitions there.[13]