Laguna Row

by | Dec 10, 2020 | Bubbleinfo Readers, Builders, Carlsbad, Jim's Take on the Market, Thinking of Building?, Where to Move | 2 comments

Brett Farrow is a local architect, builder, and developer – and has been a long-time reader of the blog (you’ve seen him comment here as ‘Mozart’). Yesterday, we got together at his latest project, Laguna Row, and talked about his experiences in the village of Carlsbad:

I also did another tour around the village for an update on the booming redevelopment:

Here is Brett’s website:

https://www.lagunarow.com/

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Google Commits to Housing

by | Jun 19, 2019 | Jim's Take on the Market, Local Government, Market Buzz, The Future, Thinking of Building? | 1 comment

I’m glad to see a major corporation doing something for housing, though they take a beating on Twitter – many of the comments are negative.  FYI – their net income was almost $9 billion in 4Q18.

An excerpt from their press release:

Today, Google is one of the Bay Area’s largest employers. Across the region, one issue stands out as particularly urgent and complex: housing. The lack of new supply, combined with the rising cost of living, has resulted in a severe shortage of affordable housing options for long-time middle and low income residents. As Google grows throughout the Bay Area—whether it’s in our home town of Mountain View, in San Francisco, or in our future developments in San Jose and Sunnyvale—we’ve invested in developing housing that meets the needs of these communities. But there’s more to do.

Today we’re announcing an additional $1 billion investment in housing across the Bay Area.

First, over the next 10 years, we’ll repurpose at least $750 million of Google’s land, most of which is currently zoned for office or commercial space, as residential housing. This will enable us to support the development of at least 15,000 new homes at all income levels in the Bay Area, including housing options for middle and low-income families. (By way of comparison, 3,000 total homes were built in the South Bay in 2018). We hope this plays a role in addressing the chronic shortage of affordable housing options for long-time middle and low income residents.

Second, we’ll establish a $250 million investment fund so that we can provide incentives to enable developers to build at least 5,000 affordable housing units across the market.

In addition to the increased supply of affordable housing these investments will help create, we will give $50 million in grants through Google.org to nonprofits focused on the issues of homelessness and displacement. This builds on the $18 million in grants we’ve given to help address homelessness over the last five years, including $3 million we gave to the newly opened SF Navigation Center and $1.5 million to affordable housing for low income veterans and households in Mountain View.

Open-Concept Reversal….Not So Fast!

by | Mar 17, 2019 | Jim's Take on the Market, Remodel Projects, Thinking of Building? | 2 comments

We had that story about the open-concept (great rooms) going away, due to them being too noisy and less private.

But Susie disagreed, and sent in a couple of photos of her new 2,321sf house in Boise, Idaho that cost $491,000 (for those who might be thinking of moving).

I will never go back to walls to divide my living room, kitchen and dining room.  And the more windows, the better – Our new home has 40 windows, and still attains a HERS rating of 70 energy efficiency.

The builder also surprised her with this tiled feature wall:

This was her previous house – Boise might be worth a look!

Builders didn’t get the memo about great rooms not being as popular either.

I think we can expect the great-room trend to stick around a while longer!

Smart City

by | Nov 13, 2017 | Jim's Take on the Market, The Future, Thinking of Building? | 5 comments

This is a fantastic idea for retirees who don’t need to worry about traveling to work every day – a futuristic city out in the boondocks!  Sun City in Phoenix was the first 55+ retirement community built in the country, and when in opened in 1960, it was way out of town at 99th Ave.

Bill Gates wants to build at the A on the map – which is 339th Avenue!  But he is proposing more than a retirement community – this plan is for the ‘smart city’ of the future.

LINK

Bill Gates is building a “smart city” in Arizona which will feature driverless cars and “cutting-edge” technology.

Belmont Partners, one of the Microsoft founder’s investment firms, has spent $80m (£61.1m) on buying and developing the new community near Tonopah, west of Phoenix.

Mr Gates’ goal is to create a smart city called Belmont on the nearly 25,000 acres of land.

Everything about Belmont will be “forward-thinking”, the company said in a statement.  A total 3,800 acres will be dedicated to office, commercial and retail space.  Another 470 acres will be used for public schools, and homes will be built on 80,000 acres of the land.

Arizona, which neighbors California, home to tech hub Silicon Valley, has long been trying to become the go-to place for innovative technology companies.

Mr Gates’ decision to build his new city in Arizona will be a major boost for the state which has lifted many rules on self-driving vehicles to become a tech hub.

(more…)

Malls to Housing

by | Sep 30, 2017 | Jim's Take on the Market, Local Flavor, The Future, Thinking of Building? | 0 comments

They should have thought of this at Mugger Mall in Carlsbad before throwing millions at it – hat tip daytrip:

In the San Fernando Valley, there are plans to level a nearly vacant mall and replace it with some 1,400 homes, boutique retail shops and a concert venue.

In Orange County, an aging mall will give way to a mixed-use development with more than 900 homes. And in the South Bay, hundreds of homes are planned to replace a struggling mall that opened in the mid-1980s.

An old adage implores investors to “buy land; they’re not making it anymore.” But in a way, in cities across the country, they are.

Acres of prime real estate are opening for redevelopment as America’s malls struggle to compete with Amazon and other online giants, offering developers a rare shot to remake swaths of land in the country’s built-out metropolises.

In particular, real estate experts say, the demise of retail centers provides one of the best chances to add needed housing in California’s urban regions, where a shortage has left nearly 30% of renters in the state paying more than half their income on housing.

“It’s a huge opportunity — probably one of the biggest,” said Adam Artunian, a vice president with John Burns Real Estate Consulting in Irvine.

The redevelopments are likely to face hurdles from residents concerned over the changing character of their neighborhoods, but as Americans increasingly buy T-shirts, purses and electronics online experts say something needs to be done with all the massive retail centers that popped up during the postwar era before they become neighborhood blights.

A recent report from Credit Suisse predicted the trend will result in 20% to 25% of America’s malls closing in the next five years.

Read full article here:

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-retail-housing-20170929-story.html

Build More….3x More!

by | Sep 26, 2017 | Boomers, Builders, Jim's Take on the Market, Local Government, Market Conditions, The Future, Thinking of Building? | 1 comment

This article adds the numbers.  We need to build at least three times as many homes as we’ve been building to keep up with the growth – and no telling what that would do to prices, if anything:

http://www.cbs8.com/story/36420282/report-changes-needed-to-meet-san-diego-housing-demand

SAN DIEGO (CNS) – As the homeless population grows and rents balloon in San Diego, city officials Thursday announced a series of proposals to help alleviate the housing shortage over the next 10 years.

Numerous changes to city codes and procedures are required to meet the housing demand, according to a report presented to the City Council’s Smart Growth and Land Use Committee.

Some of those changes include rezoning areas around transit hubs to increase density, converting unused industrial zones into residential areas and encouraging smaller unit sizes. Making use of vacant lots and easing some onerous parking requirements are also among the ideas identified in the report.

“This is an exciting step because it gives the city goals for the future, and it gives the city goals to be measured by,” San Diego Housing Commission President Richard Gentry said.

To meet the housing need in San Diego, as many as 220,000 new housing units will need to be built by 2028, the report said. The top annual production rate within the last 5 years has been of 6,400 units. Even with the solutions identified in the report, San Diego would have to bolster its production rate.

“To meet the projected needs for the city for the next 10 years, we will need to produce between 17,000 and 24,000 housing units per year — a dawning task but a worthy goal to be set,” Gentry said.

After the presentation, City Councilwoman Georgette Gomez worried that more units may not necessarily fix the housing crisis facing the region.

“I would love to work with the housing commission to look at the affordability of housing,” Gomez said. “I’m not a firm believer that just creating units is going to get to the actual issues that are in front of us.”

According to a staff report, the annual rate of housing construction has been well under half that of population growth over the past decade, creating a warped supply-and-demand situation that has prompted costs to skyrocket. The result is that half of San Diegans can’t find rental units they can afford and 60 percent can’t afford to purchase a home, according to the report.

“What we are doing is driving our kids and grandkids right out of town,” Councilman Scott Sherman said.

The report identified the communities of Skyline-Paradise Hills, Linda Vista, Otay Mesa, Clairemont Mesa and Navajo as the areas with the largest housing growth potential. As many as 74,000 units could be built all together in those five communities.

If all the suggestions in the report are carried out, that 10-year housing goal could be met or exceeded. Then hope later one is to keep that same production rate through 2028 to keep up with the expected population growth.

http://www.cbs8.com/story/36420282/report-changes-needed-to-meet-san-diego-housing-demand

Build More!

by | Sep 25, 2017 | Jim's Take on the Market, The Future, Thinking of Building? | 11 comments

Let’s get cracking on solving the affordable housing problem, and power through the next recession! Pala, Valley Center, Ramona, etc. – here we go! Hat tip to Larry who had this on his FB account:

http://www.sightline.org/2017/09/21/yes-you-can-build-your-way-to-affordable-housing/

An excerpt:

And it is simple: Yes, you can build your way to affordable housing. Aside from economic decline and depopulation, it is the only strategy that actually works.

You can do it through a state monopoly as in Singapore, an array of public and limited-profit associations as in Vienna, or private developers as in Chicago, Germany, Houston, or Montreal.

But to have affordable housing, you have to build homes in great abundance, and without that, other affordability strategies such as rent control and inclusionary zoning can be fruitless or counterproductive, as in San Francisco. Building plenty of housing is not just one way to affordability, it is the only way—the foundation on which other affordability solutions, measures against displacement, and programs for inclusion rest.

http://www.sightline.org/2017/09/21/yes-you-can-build-your-way-to-affordable-housing/

The Challenge of Capitalism

by | Aug 23, 2017 | Market Conditions, The Future, Thinking of Building? | 4 comments

An interesting essay on today’s housing crisis – thanks daytrip!

But the pushers of market-friendly solutions, and even most affordable housing activists, miss a central point in the housing debate: we already have enough housing in this country.

The problem is not supply. It’s that the supply is owned by the wrong people.

From downtowns to suburbs, there’s a glut of vacant housing and land owned by the rich. The one neat trick to solving the housing crisis: give the things owned by the rich to the poor.

The richest neighborhoods in many cities are also some of the most vacant. If you walk around Midtown Manhattan or Downtown Brooklyn on a weekday evening and look up at all the residential luxury skyscrapers that have cropped up in the last decade, you might notice they’re relatively dark.

In the stretch of Manhattan between Park and Fifth Avenues and 56th and 59th Streets, 57 percent of apartments were vacant at least ten months a year, according to a New York Times analysis based on data from 2012. Buildings from 60th Street to 63rd Street were also only around 50 percent occupied.

Across the country, even in smaller cities, downtowns are being filled with tall, expensive, and often empty apartment buildings. The apartments in the flashiest of these buildings, like the towers rising along 57th Street in New York (now sometimes called Billionaire’s Row) are often bought by the LLCs of the uber-rich, and they’re used more as investment opportunities than as places to live.

So why do we keep building so much vacant luxury housing? It’s a simple function of how capitalist land markets work.

With demand for housing high and government intervention and spending on affordable housing low, land prices have no reason to drop. If a developer buys a plot of land in, say, Cleveland for $1 million, there’s no reason the lot next to his or hers will be sold for less per square foot, and so whatever developer purchases that land will have to build something that extracts $1 million, plus profits, in rents or sales.

This is not a new phenomenon — it’s one of the central theses of Frederick Engels’ 1872 treatise, “The Housing Question:” if there’s no purposeful depression of prices on land, housing prices have no reason to become cheap. The land at the center of cities will always go up, until they are unaffordable to everyone but the richest.

Read full article here:

https://theoutline.com/post/2153/evict-the-rich

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