The address of the new restaurant is 245 Palm Bay Road West Melbourne, FL 32904, as if you needed it. Just drive down south Palm Bay Rd near the intersection of Minton Rd and it will be on the north side of the street where Publix, Moe’s Southwest Grill and HHGregg is. You can’t miss it.

Now that it’s here I’ll probably be spending plenty of time there enjoying many of their delicious sandwiches, bagels, teas, coffees, salads and more. Some of my favorites are the Mediterranean Veggie sandwich, the Frontega Chicken panini, the Greek salad and of course the bagels and great breads. I’ve also been known to partake in a chocolate fudge brownie, but I am trying to eat better so I might have to limit the brownie intake to 1 a month or so.

Another nice thing about Panera that some people may not know about is that they have free wifi, so that just makes it all the better to hang out in and work a little while enjoying their tasty treats. Finally, after suffering through years of fast food in Palm Bay Florida, we now have some decent quick food to look forward to. I don’t call Panera fast food because it certainly is a few steps above McDonalds and Burger King. We’ll just rename fast food to quick food for Panera’s sake.

Anyway, if you are in the vicinity of Palm Bay Road in South Brevard County during meal time (they’re open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, stop into Panera and have a bite to eat. You’ll probably see me with my MacBook Air sitting in a corner munching on a bagel or something else delicious.

Well, it was, and I thoroughly enjoyed my Triple Lindy (Moe must be a Rodney Dangerfield and Seinfeld fan).  It seemed like half of Palm Bay was at Moe’s yesterday and standing in line for about 40 minutes wasn’t any big deal because everyone seemed to have a hey-I’m-gettin-a-free-burrito-so-no-worries attitude. Besides I saw a few friends that were obviously needing their Mexican food fix like I was and we had a good time discussing the finer points of free burritos.

When the line whittled down and I finally got inside the restaurant all the employees seemed to be having a party as they were cranking out the food. Every time the greeter at the door said “Welcome to Moe’s” all the employees piped in an enthusiastic, “WELCOME TO MOE’S!” And as the total burrito count was shouted out while I was inside, more than 1,100 of these delicious creations had been served.

I’ll definitely be visiting Moe’s again as the food was delicious and the pricing structure won’t bankrupt you like the now defunct Panchero’s down the street did with their everything is extra pricing. Like guacamole? At Panchero’s that was extra, as was chips, turning your $5.99 meal into a $9.50 meal by the time you got out the door. That won’t happen at Moe’s where you get free chips and salsa and guac is priced right in with the cost of your burrito depending on what you pick.

Hey, if you live in the area and are jonesin for some Mex/southwest food, head on over to Moe’s Southwest Grill in Hammock Landings. Finally, we’re getting some decent fast food in Palm Bay.

I think it has been over 2 years that this asphalt eating, hole digging, dust spewing, lane switching, tar spitting project has graced the city of Palm Bay. And that includes 2 years of driving an obstacle course of cones, trying to figure out where lanes actually are, watching the car next to you so you don’t crash into it, wondering if your car can really fit into a half size lane while traveling 50 mph and various other surprises that seemed to crop up right around the next, “Caution, Men Working” sign.

It is a pleasure now to drive the vast blacktop of Palm Bay Road and quickly zip from lane to lane as you try to spot a nice slalom traffic arrangement you can exploit. I’m not advocating speeding or reckless driving here, just a little fun when the opportunity presents itself. In any event, the flow of traffic along the congested palm Bay Rd is much smoother now and travel times seem to be reduced in the mornings and other high traffic times.

I haven’t ventured on to the eastern lands on that side of Babcock St yet to see if construction has finished over there. It must not be done, because we’re still expecting that big bar-b-que with beans, smoked turkey and and a cold beer mentioned in my other Palm Bay Road post for living with dust, debris and destruction for 2+ years. Can I bring the scissors for the ribbon cutting ceremony?

With all the new restaurants going up at the new Hammock Landings shopping center, it has been a little disappointing to see that they usually turn out to be a Burger King, another McDonalds, or even something silly like a bank. But now justice has prevailed and decent, nutritious and affordable fast food will be served to hungry patrons living in the bustling metropolis of Palm Bay.

There’s a good chance I will probably be living at Panera once it opens as it has wireless Internet access, comfortable booths, pleasing decor and tasty delicacies (fast food style), what more could a person want? I wonder if I can permanently rent a booth and get them to personalize a coffee mug for me? I wouldn’t camp out for an Apple iPad (sorry Steve), but I might when this new restaurant opens.

Being that we live in Palm Bay nearly right across the street from Hammock Landings, it will be a very quick trip to hit Panera up for lunch unlike it is now. The closest one to us is at the Post Commons Shopping Center off of Post Road in North Melbourne so it’s about a 15 minute drive when the urge strikes for the Mediterranean Veggie or their delicious frosted chocolate brownies.

And if you’d like a job in Palm Bay, check out the job posting on Craigs List for Panera and remember, you may be making chocolate brownies for someone you know, so go Barack Obama with the frosting (in other words, be liberal).

While the project has been underway since January 3, 2008, that’s 2 years and 3 months for those counting, it seems like an eternity. The reason for the long delay is is probably because I don’t think I’ve ever seen more than about 4 people working on the road at any one time. What I’m talking about is actual work, not a bunch of road construction supervisors standing around a hole trying to make it deeper by telekinesis. The Eternal Destruction Palm Bay Road Crew Band had more working members than does the crew working on the eternal road of destruction.

The entire construction zone, if that’s what you insist on calling it, is  4.5 miles long from Robert J Conlan Blvd to Minton Road so, that makes the current rate of destruction approximately 6 months per mile. Let’s hope we don’t stretch that out to 1 year per mile. Anyone willing to place a bet? There are a few 20 yard stretches here and there that do appear to be completed and have traffic moving in both directions on 3 lanes each however, these seem to be more like anomalies than actual finished sections of road when 3 days after completion, out cometh the orange cones because someone needs to move a drain hole 10 feet. That is, after discovering that water in fact does flow downhill.

If you were wondering, the whole plan may have simply been designed to drain money out of some state budget fund somewhere that was probably showing a surplus. The surplus was probably an accounting error and will eventually rear its ugly head one way or another, likely showing up mysteriously in a future tax bill from Brevard County.

The reason I’ve dreamt up this somewhat nutty conspiracy theory is because there is no actual completion date for this project according to the Florida Department of Transportation. And after a 5 minute search of the web for additional information as to the date we can look forward to a ribbon cutting ceremony, free bar-b-que and a cold brewski for tolerating this nonsense for an eternity, none was to be found.

Maybe we could get a few Fla DOT construction supervisors on a completion date estimate instead of looking down that hole trying to make it deeper?

What I’m referring to is the amount of road construction leading into and around Palm Bay. It’s crazy that if you live where we do, you can’t go just about anywhere without running into that construction, and yes, it is a huge mess.

Palm Bay Road is being widened from 4 lanes to 6 lanes along with the road improvements being done to accommodate the new Hammock Landing Mall and Interstate 95 is also being widened to 6 lanes making for a most unpleasant time getting just about anywhere in the South Brevard area.

My wife and I took a trip to Orlando a couple of weeks ago and almost every major artery leading to and from Palm Bay to Orlando has some sort of construction or road improvement going on. In addition to Palm Bay Road and I-95 being widened, 528 is having tool booth construction done as is the East West Expressway through Orlando and in addition I-4 is as well.

A simple 1 hour trip to Orlando has been increased to about a 1.25 to 1.5 hour trip because of the excessive construction.

Hopefully all this construction will be done soon and we will be able to get around Palm Bay Florida with ease in the next few months. In the mean time we’ll just have to deal with it, that is until they start some new project.

Case in point is a local Chrysler dealer in Melbourne Florida, the community just north of Palm Bay. Sunshine Dodge Isuzu in Melbourne FL is being forcibly taken away from owner George C. Joseph after 35 years of family ownership.

Here is part of Joseph’s letter to the editor as published at PrisonPlanet.com:

On Thursday, May 14, 2009 I was notified that my Dodge franchise, that we purchased, will be taken away from my family on June 9, 2009 without compensation and given to another dealer at no cost to them. My new vehicle inventory consists of 125 vehicles with a financed balance of 3 million dollars. This inventory becomes impossible to sell with no factory incentives beyond June 9, 2009. Without the Dodge franchise we can no longer sell a new Dodge as “new,” nor will we be able to do any warranty service work. Additionally, my Dodge parts inventory, (approximately $300,000.) is virtually worthless without the ability to perform warranty service. There is no offer from Chrysler to buy back the vehicles or parts inventory.

If that doesn’t scare the crap out of you, it should! Here is a profitable car dealer, that by the way, my family has purchased cars from years ago, that is having their business, that they paid for, maintained, grew and invested money in over a period of nearly 4 decades, being stolen legally by the Chrysler corporation and the state (read, Obama Administration) right out from under them.

This is outrageous! We do not live in a third world country. The President of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, did this to wealthy land and farm owners in his country and gave the land to people who didn’t know how to farm and ruined the economy. Is that what the current administration wants to happen to our country?

If this can happen to a local business owner, it can happen to anyone. What do you own that the government may try to confiscate? You better hide it before it belongs to the state.

Welcome to the People’s Republic Of America.

However, they are very nice apartments and they’re brand new.

Amenities include:

Furnished apartments available
Clubhouse
On Site Laundry 
Free use of the Fitness Center with Free Weights
Pool
Business Center
High Speed Internet Available 
Playground
On-site Maintenance 
Guest Rooms
Sundeck 
Residents lounge 

Rental rates range from $795 to $1095 per month. The Villas At Palm Bay offer one, two and three bedroom apartments ranging in size from 775 to 1175 square feet.

Click on the link below to contact the property and see photos. Make sure you email the property to get the latest specials.

The Villas at Palm Bay
9600 Pinewood Drive
Palm Bay, FL 32905

Alan

Tags: palm bay fl apartments, the villas, furnished apartments, palm bay florida

The two year investment deal that didn’t go as well as we had planned is now completed and it will be a long time before we get into flipping property again. I’m not saying it will never happen, because there are opportunities in every market, but it will probably be a good wait before we are able to invest in real estate again.

The timeline of this little real estate investment goes something like this.

August 2005 – Closed on our investment house at 836 Tavernier Cir NE – Price $241,000

March 2006 – Construction begins 7 months after we close.

May 2006 – Roofing completed and painting of outside of home.

June 2006 – Driveway poured

August 2006 – Flooring with carpert and tile completed inside home.

October 2006 – Construction of home completed and we are given the CO. That’s a certificate of occupancy. Yes, it took a full 7 months to build a 3 bedroom house.

October 2006 – We put the house on the market for $249,000!

We then waited and waited to no avail because the market tanked. We lowered the price on the home several times and probably had about 10 prople look at the home in the year that it was on the market.

We did have one offer and a contract on the house almost as soon as we put it on the market. The offer was eventually worked out to be a price of $250,000. Unfortunately the buyer didn’t have employment or income verification. I’m not sure why they were even looking for a home, but that was a weird one. Too bad, it would have saved us about $30,000 in house payments, insurance and utilities.

March 2007 – Switched reators and went with Steve Johnson based in Palm Bay.

March -July 2007 – Dropped the price of the home approximately $10,000 every two weeks until we got an offer.

July 2007 – Received 3 offers and accepted an offer of $180,000

September 2007 – Closed on offer of $180,000. This deal was a short sale, but I will spare you the details since they are private. Needless to say we lost a bunch on this whole deal but are thankful to have the home out from under us and the buyer got an exceptional deal.

We purchased this home for $241,000 and sold it 2 years later for $180,000. Not a very good investment I would say. But at least this chapter in our life is over. So much for real estate investing on our part.

To check out the home in Palm Bay FL, click here.

Alan

Tags: palm bay florida, florida home, real estate investing, short sale, flipping property

These apartments are conveniently located in Palm Bay off of Riviera Drive where the old Port Malabar Country Club used to be. These Palm Bay FL apartment rentals have easy access to Wal Mart and I-95 so you can get just about anywhere you need to in Central Florida quickly. The price is right and cheap or inexpensive if you don’t want to say they’re cheap. You can get a 1 bedroom apartment for as little as $705 per month and a top of the line 2 bedroom apartment goes for $980 per month.

Malabar Lakes apartments range in size from 720 square feet to 1025 square feet and their list of amenities includes:

A pool
Clubhouse
Whirlpool
Covered parking
and more

The closest schools to Malabar Lakes apartment rentals are

Riviera Elementary
Stone Middle School
Palm Bay High School

To get more information on these apartments and see photos click the apartment name below. Make sure you email the complex to inquire about monthly specials.

Malabar Lakes
1018 Malabar Lakes Dr.
Palm Bay, FL 32905

Alan

Tags: palm bay fl apartments, malabar lakes, central florida, apartments.com