30118: Hermanitn(News)Florida mansion builder helps Haitians get basic shelter (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>


Posted on Sat, Mar. 03, 2007
Florida mansion builder helps Haitians get basic shelter
By KELLI KENNEDY

Trudging through muddy sewer water, Frank McKinney sidesteps a pig wandering 
aimlessly through this destitute neighborhood, passing two dozen children with 
bloated bellies. He pauses to give a stuffed toy to a young girl in a yellow 
dress.

He doesn't grimace at the stench, but seems pained when he learns the children 
fish through the water scavenging for crabs to eat or sell. There is no 
electricity or running water in this makeshift village built on a garbage dump.

A day later, the developer entertained billionaires interested in his $135 
million home near Palm Beach, Fla., renting a red carpet, a Bentley with 
diamond encrusted wheels and models wearing fruit.

The multimillionaire who is building one of the most expensive homes in the 
U.S. is also one of Haiti's benefactors - he's already commissioned four 
villages for the poor, including one for those living in the garbage dump, and 
is planning two more this year. The homes are given free.

"It's taken a lot of work to be able to understand I can live in both words," 
said McKinney, 43. "I train myself to understand that this is part of the 
stewardship. I'm not in this to feel good. It's all part of the calling."

The mansion - complete with a combination shark tank-swimming pool, bowling 
alley, and ceiling aquarium that snakes into a wet bar - is the 32nd 
multimillion dollar project for the Delray Beach developer. It is worlds away 
from the simple $5,000 homes he builds in Haiti.

His life is full of dichotomies, though he seems to move with grace between 
them.

Costumed in a black cape and mask for the unveiling of his $20 million house in 
2005, he rode down a zip line and successfully dueled an evil invader before a 
dramatic fireworks show. The home sold a few weeks later.

"Never losing the little boy inside really keeps one in touch with creativity," 
said McKinney, whose office is an elaborate two-story tree house with an 
oceanfront view.

He is eccentric, but not ostentatious. He'll compete in the 135-mile Badwater 
marathon in Death Valley for the third time later this year. Though he garners 
about 17 percent from the home sales, he drives a 2002 Honda hybrid, walks his 
8-year-old daughter to school daily and attends church every Sunday.

He practices "exercising my risk threshold like a muscle," building the 
multimillion dollar homes on spec, despite Florida's often fickle real estate 
market.

Sporting a teased blond mane reminiscent of a 1980s rocker, McKinney is 
somewhat of a rock star in the real estate world. He brokers that celebrity 
status to raise money for his Haiti projects.

When McKinney went on a nationwide book tour for his second book, investors 
could join him for eight-hour legs of the journey if they donated money to "The 
Caring House Project Foundation."

"He's really a modern day Robin Hood," said St. Louis real-estate investor 
Marlene Trice, who also accompanied McKinney on a recent visit to Haiti to see 
the village she helped fund. "He creates a huge amount of wealth in everything 
that he does and then turns it and gives it back to the communities that don't 
have any."

McKinney, who would not disclose his net worth, initially tried building for 
the local homeless, but was stalled by government red tape and quickly realized 
he could build homes cheaper and faster in one of the poorest and most violent 
countries in the Western Hemisphere. The villages cost between $400,000 and 
$500,000 to build.

To the Haitian children, he is seen as the Beanie Baby man and on a recent trip 
has jammed 750 into backpacks that he passed out after the village's dedication 
ceremony.

Dressed in a tattered denim shirt, faded camouflage pants and a straw hat, 
crowds of school children in crisp white and blue uniforms held out their hands 
to him in earnest. They followed him through the dusty paths as he toured the 
two-room white concrete homes with freshly painted red doors. During a muggy 
dedication ceremony and church service, the children sang for him in Creole, 
their crisp white bows bouncing as they danced and clapped.

Normally talkative, McKinney was silent for much of the trip as he toured the 
Ange Village, which includes homes for 30 families, a community center, medical 
clinic, school, orphanage and acres of farm land with goats and chickens so the 
village can be self-sufficient. More homes, a soccer field and tilapia pond are 
slated for Phase 2.

"This is the best thing that ever happened to me," said Jean Louis, 47, who 
lives in another village McKinney built in Cap Haitien with his wife and five 
children. "This home makes me feel safe. No one will ever kick me out again."

Surrounded by lush green mountains and not far from the coast, McKinney noted 
the landscape would be prime real estate anywhere else than this violent 
country studded with pock marked, garbage strewn roads.

With him were 12 other real estate investors from around the country who have 
contributed to his projects. He's hoping the abject poverty will inspire them 
to larger donations.

The day after the trip, he received an e-mail from Pittsburgh real estate 
investor Jim Toner, who pledged to give $100,000 this year. Robyn Thompson, who 
donated $160,000 for the orphanages last year, says she is also interested in 
paying the teachers who work at the village's school.

On the way back to the airport, as children pressed their faces against the bus 
windows hoping for handouts, McKinney said he is eager to begin work on the 
next village - slated for the Haiti-Dominican Republic border.

For now, he boarded a plane home, to walk a red carpet and smile for the 
billionaires.

"My wife says we build the big houses so we can build a lot of smaller ones."





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