Somebody was already happy to post this in the youtube comments:
Your video on the Bluewater Crossing project is very uniformed.
First, Trammell Crow didn’t design the project, another developer did. The ultimate doomed project was the collaboration of a Planning Department and City Council in Carlsbad who insisted on an Urban Transit Oriented Development. They required the awkward combination of retail/live-work. Of course most developers would have built typical condos on the site if they could have. Several tried to get plans approved for a normal, on-grade townhome project. The city insisted on a retail component even after every study doubted the feasibility of retail at that site.
If anything, Trammell Crow was guilty of being too optimistic on the success of a Transit Oriented Development concept in North County San Diego. Now the City and the banks will be stuck with a poorly planned project on a prime parcel.
Hat tip to haigger
Those of us with a shed in the back yrd or office off the laundry room know you have to be able to close the door. Live/work/play would feel like the Village in the classic TV show The Prisoner.
Are the “work” spaces big enough to house some tools and a ’69 Chevy?
I could run a body shop next door to my wife’s “walk-in” massage parlor… no waiting.
should have timed your visit to hear the blaring horn of the train, i think it happens approx. 20 times day?
They look nice. Maybe the prices will come down enough to make them worth while.
These would be a great idea at a lower price and in a different area. You need TRAFFIC to make retail work. Coaster station is not traffic. You get people in a rush in the morning and eager to get home at night. The businesses that work in that environment is coffee/bagels, a quickie grocery, candy/high-end consumables, dry cleaner, bank, news/books/magazines, etc… In this environment you’ll have a morning rush, slow day, evening rush.
Where this kind of development would really shine is a downtown area that has plenty of foot traffic.
There is a place for everything, this was not the place for BluWater.
One of these popped up in San Jose a few years ago near the Caltrain station off 87 south. The “For Sale” sign was up for a couple years and then it finally became “For Rent.” They figured it out. Eventually, these guys will too. No one wants to buy these things, but they are popular rentals.
-Erica
There’s definitely a market for these, and why big corporations decide to hold, rather than just lower the price is beyond me.
It doesn’t matter how much you spent, what the appraisals said, what you told your shareholders, etc.
They are worth what the market will bear – $400,000 to $500,000. You know the HOA fees will be pricey too.
I couldn’t find any financing on record either, but instead of lowering prices regularly to find the market, they just shut it down.
Jim, if you dig I bet you’ll find that there are monster subsidies and breaks from the city. These TODs are never justified by the market. They’re probably getting paid to hold and pretend.
And I thought to myself “$400k equivalent” before Jim said it. Let me explain “equivalent.” You see in places like this there are undoubtably any number of junk fees associated with living there. Certainly a business association, landscape district, lighting district and street fee. I wouldn’t be surprised at a separate tiered trash charge. Then there’s business licenses and inspections and… Forget it, just forget it.
It actually hurts to see such waste of good coastal land. Regular condo’s would’ve been much nicer with the upper west-facing floors going for big premiums.
Not to mention its is about 300 yards from Carlsbad’s sewer treatment plant. You can see a smokestack burning off gases from the treatment process. Smell that “Diary Air” when the wind blows from the north. Excuse my French!
I’m with doughboy on the “brown air breeze”…a ligt Santa Ana and that whole area smells like a porta potty thanks to the proximity of the treatment plant. Nothing that price won’t fix. Trammell Crow? Is that pig latin for tight fitting slacks?
Overzealous urban planning disaster.
If I wanted to live in a town home or apartment I would live downtown, not in the suburbs. This is the worst of both worlds. They must be smoking some good stuff up in the planning department.
maybe they speculate the market will come back again- to sell it more expensive in 1-2 years or so. But keeping all properties vacant is just wrong – they nave to try to get some cashflow from rent @least.
To be honest I liked the presentation on their site, and I am a friend of lofts(esp. the tall rooms are terrific), but would not pay more than 350k for these properties.
regards KBX
when will Bud Lewis and that beaver-faced Matt Hall stop saying YES to everything?
You know in the developers defense, this type of stuff is going up all over the country. But, and this is key, in cities with decent functioning economies.
800K does seem out of line, but most all around North County is compared to what people make.
Trammel forgot people in SD don’t make 300k a year who would buy a hip-urban-chic townhome. More like 30k is accurate.
btw. what happened to the Jim-the-Realtor-Tshirt-charity-REO-Contest? I´m curious what price was paid for the house of love.
regards KBX
I like ’em!
Yes, at $400K or less (depending on fees), those things would fly off the market, IMHO.
Kicking the can down the road is helpful when you’re in an IBG (I’ll Be Gone) situation. Keep hope alive until you’ve landed a better job somewhere else.
Looked at these things about 8 mo’s ago and was unimpressed. There’s no traffic by these things; you have to know they’re there to find them. If you ran a biz on the ground level, you’d have to market a bunch to get people in the front door. The setup is maybe ok for a dual-income couple, hetero or gay. It’s an urban living space in an area that’s definitely no urban. What were they thinking? You have to get in a car to get anywhere – that’s not urban!