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October, 2011
Just back from New York City... the High Line has to be one of the most visionary and successful pieces of urban design I have ever seen (the South Bank and Victoria Street, both in Brisbane, are also pretty damn good) . If you go to NYC... ya gotta see and walk it... also a convenient access to some of the more recent and notable residential buildings in NYC... and do not forget the Standard... and eat there.. awesome burgers... ask for the chef's table.
September, 2011
The very best information on what grade stainless steel to use and where... another article in "the construction specifier"
August 15, 2011
Its not exactly an architectural glam-mag but occasionally it has some useful articles... August's "the construction specifier" has a very helpful article on Polished Concrete Floors... and a somewhat obvious but unfortunately necessary reminder of the importance of Mock-Ups.
link to article Page 3 BMRs vs cash
august 8, 2011
Personal experience from 4 years ago: a two-bedroom unit in a typical luxury condo valued at $1,100,000 on the open market sold by the Mayors Office of Housing for around $235,000. The land cost per unit in this location was $200,000... And cost of development and construction was another $430,000. So the unit cost the developer around $400,000... which added $30,000 to each of the other units in the complex... so that a married student could move in... and later move her parents in to the second bedroom... and then have a baby... and then move out.
The benefit to the community was to one family. What if........ the developer sells the unit at $1,100,000.... takes the "cost" plus commissions plus the bank-mandated minimum 15% profit... around $750,000... and gives the $350,000 difference to the MoH Home Remodeling Fund (just invented by yours truly). Here is what happens.... The City gets an extra $10,000 per annum in real estate taxes ($1.1m vs $235K)... and invests $50,000 in 7 homes in need of new bathrooms or kitchens or whatever ... Increasing their value by at least $80,000... making 7 families lives that much better... and adding another $560,000 in RE tax value to the city assessors books, or about $6,000 per annum.
So....... One BMR with a tax assessment of $3,000 and one family.... Versus 7 homes improved and $6,000 in taxes... and 7 homes that are allowed to build equity for their owners (rule 1 of the American Dream).
our thoughts
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Page 2 How stimulated have you been?
august 6, 2011
What exactly did the Feds think a few billion dollars spent on highways and bridges was going to do for our economy? To paraphrase a former Pres, its the housing industry, stupid! So why can't they see that more professionals, trades and manufacturers are employed per dollar spent on housing than anything else and affordable housing is desperately needed for so many segments of our population. So where the heck is HUD? Since so many housing developments need seed money to just get started (think grants, tax credits and redevelopment support) why cant HUD stimulate that process?
pipelines
august 4, 2011
As with many other firms our work load is lighter than we would prefer with many projects still parked in the proverbial pipe-line. The problem is that the beginning of that pipeline keeps moving into the future as many of our clients try to deal with new lending standards and expectations. Seems to me that as long as the banks can borrow at 0.5% they have no need to lend to developers when they can make good money out of much less speculative loans. But what do I know?..... (obviously not enough).
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Working with Alta Vista School (private K-8) on a new campus.... renovation of two beautiful historic buildings... more when we can go public.
Sherwin Williams is expanding their retail stores... we are doing one in SF and another in San Mateo... with a few others we know of planned for SF and Daly City.
Our 63-unit, market rate condo Block 51 project for Lennar is ready to break ground having completed a round of V-E work.
2299 Market is now moving into DD with CD's expected to be completed by the New year.... who'd a thunk it.... designed 4 years ago...oh well!
... And a couple of other projects we cannot go public with as yet... stay tuned!
