By Al Edwards,
Staff Reporter
A LAND developer who took out advertising space in The Gleaner on Tuesday offering cheap "lots larger than a football field" in Florida, yesterday left unsuspecting management of the Hilton Kingston Hotel, New Kingston, to deal with queries from irate potential investors.
Management at the hotel told interested parties that they were unaware of the scheme and were themselves seeking the man behind the land advertisements after he had initially booked a room but later cancelled it.
Hilton management said the man could not be found and had not left a "forwarding contact address."
On Tuesday, October 24, a large advertisement was placed in The Gleaner, claiming that the smallest lot on offer in Avon Park Estates was 90 per cent the size of a football field from "goal to goal" in square footage and came in one acre plus lots that were ideal to build homes on.
The advertisement proclaimed: "All land is high and dry averaging between 94 to 130 feet above sea level in subtropical Florida". Sale price from US$19,900. Only 10 per cent down payment, US$244.18 per month. Easy financing available."
The advertisement concluded: "Please call Mr. Jack Kennedy for more information on 1-876-926-5430."
But the number turned out to be that of the Hilton Kingston Hotel, where Mr. Kennedy was supposed to be stopping but could not be found yesterday.
A Hilton spokesman told The Gleaner: "This Mr. Kennedy, whoever that is, had no authorisation to use our telephone number in the advertisement that appeared in your newspaper. We have been inundated with calls and have no idea who Mr. Kennedy is, or just what Avon Park Estates does, or for that matter whether it exists. We have had to calm down a lot of irate people."
Mr. Kennedy's ads received a flood of interest from potential local buyers yesterday.
There is a website address, apecorp@hotmail.com with the same information that appears in the advertisement but the website offers an American contact number. Attempts to contact representatives of Avon Park Estates on that number proved futile.
