Real estate
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Real estate Still working in downtown LR
- Brian Chilson
- STILL HOPEFUL: Financial issues have accumulated for Scott Reed, developer of this building, from which he is trying to evict Porter's Jazz Cafe. But he says they are small contract disputes, particularly weighed against what he's invested so far and still hopes to invest.
Scott Reed, the developer of K Lofts on 315 Main St., is still interested in purchasing buildings along Main Street — the Boyle Building, the M.M. Cohn Building, the Arkansas Building and an annex — for redevelopment as artists spaces and residences, he told the Times Tuesday.
Reed is the subject of an online article today in Arkansas Business that reported that thousands of dollars in liens have been filed against his company for the K Lofts project and residential construction in downtown Little Rock. “We’ve spent a couple million of our own dollars [on renovations downtown] and then I get a front-page story on $70,000 in invoices we’re disputing. It’s shocking to me that that’s the story,” Reed said.
The story also reported that Reed, who was both developer and contractor for the K Lofts project, is seeking to evict Porter’s Jazz Cafe, the sole tenant at 315 Main, for failure to pay rent. Owners of the jazz club did not return calls to the Times.
Reed and family have returned to Portland, where Reed Realty has an office, but Reed said he is still working in Little Rock.
Reed once offered to match a $150,000 Our Town grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts to the city last summer for a proposed “cultural corridor” between Third and Seventh streets along Main. He withdrew that support, he said, because he had a different vision for development. The grant was reduced to $75,000, with the city providing an in-kind match. The University of Arkansas's Community Development Center and architect Marlon Blackwell are drawing up schematics for the "cultural corridor," where the city hopes investors will restore historic buildings to offer space for performing and visual artists and affordable housing for artists.
Tower Investments owns the buildings that Reed says he is interested in buying.
PS — A number of agencies are watching activities closely. For example, the Arkansas Redevelopment Authority has approved $1.8 million in loans to Reed under a federal neighborhood stabilization program. About $309,000 has been disbursed in payments since August 2010. It's a 0 percent, 30-year loan to cover 30 pieces of property. No repayments have been made, but there's a three-year deferment on repayments. ADFA, however, has raised questions about whether the developer has met requirements on keeping taxes current and making adequate progress on redevelopment on the property.
Posted by Leslie Newell Peacock on | Permalink | Comments (3)
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Real estate Housing prices up: Correction
Arkansas realtors say sales indicate a "possible recovery" in the housing market: Average December existing home prices rose by 5 2 percent [corrected by Realtors Association] over December 2010, from $144,842 to $152,403, the Arkansas Realtors Association announced this morning.
In the 42 counties the association measures, however, sales were down 6 percent in December 2011 (1,785) compared to December 2010 (1,903).
Release on jump.
Posted by Leslie Newell Peacock on | Permalink | Comments (6)
Friday, January 13, 2012
Downtown LR / Business / Real estate Rainwater Building redo for Capitol Avenue apartments
A project is underway to convert the Rainwater Building at 519 E. Capitol Avenue into 12 one-bedroom "luxury" apartments. An earlier plan by a previous owner to convert the building to condos never got off the ground, but Chris Moses, developer of the project, cites high interest in downtown apartment rentals as a driving force in this project. Rents should be competitive with similar projects downtown, he said, about $1.10 a square foot. As a historic property, it will qualify for state and federal tax credits.
Posted by Max Brantley on | Permalink | Comments (0)
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Real estate Trend: movement from suburbs back to urban cores
Food for thought in the New York Times, an article saying that the real estate bubble spurred suburban growth and its crash means that same vitality will never return to ring cities.
What's more writes Christian Lineberger, a professor of urban planning, high-priced real estate is moving to urban cores, along with people.
Simply put, there has been a profound structural shift — a reversal of what took place in the 1950s, when drivable suburbs boomed and flourished as center cities emptied and withered.The shift is durable and lasting because of a major demographic event: the convergence of the two largest generations in American history, the baby boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) and the millennials (born between 1979 and 1996), which today represent half of the total population.
Many boomers are now empty nesters and approaching retirement. Generally this means that they will downsize their housing in the near future. Boomers want to live in a walkable urban downtown, a suburban town center or a small town, according to a recent survey by the National Association of Realtors.
The millennials are just now beginning to emerge from the nest — at least those who can afford to live on their own. This coming-of-age cohort also favors urban downtowns and suburban town centers — for lifestyle reasons and the convenience of not having to own cars.
Well. Little Rock has seen some hefty investments in downtown real estate, but a largely derelict Main Street is testament to the distance yet to travel. Still, this larger view of reconcentrating cities could explain the theory that the Stephens empire's acquisition of big chunks of downtown Little Rock property — only to raze it, gravel it and let it sit (and the Channel 7 building is a rumored future acquisition) — is a legacy investment. That is, it's money spent now with a very long view. Someday, when people can't afford to drive to Chenal or Cabot or Bryant any longer (and we may be talking 30 years), that land will be very valuable.
It's a theory anyway. This is easy for me to say, too, but I don't understand why the Stephens Inc. investors don't enhance their holdings now by investing a little of their money now into new development or at least making a meaningful contribution to the publicly funded initiatives currently on the drawing board. Offering a small markdown on kitchen equipment manufactured by a company you own — as Stephens has done in the case of adding something to the pot to relocate Pulaski Tech's culinary school — is not an investment. Given that most of the city power players joined forces not long ago to defeat a hotel development project seen as competition to the Stephenses' Capital Hotel, you'd think they could show a little more gratitude.
Posted by Max Brantley on | Permalink | Comments (11)
Monday, September 19, 2011
Real estate Former store eyed by Easter Seals
A resolution has been filed for the Pulaski County Public Facilities Board to approve $4.5 to $5 million in revenue bonds to finance purchase of a former retail building (built for a grocery and most recently used as an antique mall) for an Easter Seals job training and wellness center for adults with disabilities. It's at 14901 Cantrell Road, just west of Taylor Loop.
The bonds are not government obligations and aren't backed by taxes, but will be paid by revenues from the operation.
Posted by Max Brantley on | Permalink | Comments (7)
Monday, March 21, 2011
Real estate Publisher Hussman profits on Gazette building sale
George Waldon's real estate column in this week's Arkansas Business reports the sale of the old Arkansas Gazette building at Third and Louisiana to its occupant, the eStem charter school, for $5.3 million. It was valued at $1.1 million when it was among the assets Democrat-Gazette Publisher Walter Hussman received as part his deal with Gannett Corp. to end the Little Rock newspaper war. The building was substantially renovated for conversion to the school and Hussman has been leasing it until now. According to past reporting, he loaned the school $3.2 million, at 6 percent interest, for renovations.
Posted by Max Brantley on | Permalink | Comments (25)
Monday, August 23, 2010
Real estate Living off your house
Many moments too late comes this economic analysis:
Housing will eventually recover from its great swoon. But many real estate experts now believe that home ownership will never again yield rewards like those enjoyed in the second half of the 20th century, when houses not only provided shelter but also a plump nest egg.... Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, estimates that it will take 20 years to recoup the $6 trillion of housing wealth that has been lost since 2005. After adjusting for inflation, values will never catch up.
“People shouldn’t look at a home as a way to make money because it won’t,” Mr. Baker said.
Posted by Max Brantley on | Permalink | Comments (10)
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