ORANGE BEACH, Ala. — A group of investors has purchased prime beachfront lots where Alabama 161 ends at Alabama 182.

The land previously held homes that were destroyed in Hurricane Ivan in 2004 and was the speculative site for a new resort that never got off the ground. It is between the new Hampton Inn in the west and Summerchase in the east.

“When we saw the sold signs, all of our curiosity was peaked,” Orange Beach Community Development Director Kit Alexander said. Meanwhile, to the west of the Hampton Inn, a group is in the early planning stages for a new resort there as well.

Realtor Nathan Cox of Bellator Realty handled the sale for a group of investors who he says has no current plan for the property.

“We just bought it for a long-term investment,” Cox said. “There are no immediate development plans or anything like that. There’s not much to report right now.”

Cox said it is a diverse group from, but didn’t reveal any names or how many investors might be involved.

“We have an investment fund, a private equity fund that we’ve put together earlier this year,” he said. “It’s about a $60 million fund and we bought those parcels. The name of the group is Gulf Coast Opportunities Fund. They are investors from all over North America.”

The property has stood empty and idle since Ivan.

“There was some houses there originally and it’s a former Mandalay project,” Cox said. “I don’t know a lot about the development but I think Rick Phillips was involved it, John Kay, Bob Williams. It was a major condo/hotel type development that was to go on that property was that never came to fruition obviously due to the economy.”

Cox said the Gulf Coast Opportunities Fund investors are waiting for the right time to begin development on the site.

“There’s no plan right now,” he said. “Just plan on buying it and holding it and doing something down the line when the market comes back.”

On the other side of the Hampton Inn, owners have already started the process with the city to build on the site.

“We know that the property west of the Hampton Inn, they are in for approval to rezone to a BR-2 which is a high-density resort property,” Alexander said. “They’re saying they want to build a condominium. Right now they are just asking for approval to rezone to a resort use. But we don’t have the details, but it would be a high-rise condominium.”

That type of zoning allows for certain, specific uses, Alexander said.

“They can do 20 stories of residential units, that would be hotel or condominiums,” she said. “And they can do up to five stories of parking garage. And then they can do accessory uses for that residential use such as a restaurant or anything that would be an accessory to that residential or hotel use.”