We felt pretty good about the final outcome of our presentation and we felt we had it down. Then Brant and Scott presented theirs and I started having second thoughts. They had a very good and detailed presentation and since they went first it set the bar pretty high. Oh well, we couldn’t make any changes at this point so we had to wing it with our good looks and personality!!! Too bad Forgey wasn’t a female instructor b/c I don’t get the impression he thinks we are all that good looking, personalities’ maybe? So the presentation was going pretty good until Dr. Forgey identified a flaw in our calculations. We had included the build out dollars in the sale proceeds numbers but we had left them out in our construction numbers…oops!! So basically, at first glance Forgey says our deal is a bust. We had to admit we made a crucial mistake and just take our lumps. Dam it!!! So during the 3rd presentation, I took out our spreadsheet and backed out the $40 psf of the sale price of the office condo’s and recalculated the ROI’s and IRR’s and fortunately they were still positive but not as good as they were and made the deal a little skinny. We didn’t make any money on just our profit split. So I showed Dr. Forgey the new numbers and begged for a D instead of an F. Then I remembered we actually had developer fees and commissions included so I showed him that instead of not making any money we still made $85,000 and begged for a C instead of a D. Maybe our awesome personalities’ will work b/c our brains sure weren’t working Friday night.
Then Dr. Forgey wanted us to go over blogs in class and so I thought maybe since I was fairly up to date and had a little fun with my blogs maybe a brother could get a little redemption. We’ll see???
Dr. Forgey asked us to give our take aways from the class and as much as I wanted patronage Dr. Forgey to try for a better grade, I figured that would not work so I just told the truth. I actually had many take aways but mainly I had a greater appreciation for the time it takes to get deals done and the creativity you have to have for financing a deal in today’s economic times. Time is a developer’s enemy. Also, the balance one has to have when dealing with Architects was a big take away! Finally, actually doing the project vs. reading about how to do a project gave me a better understanding of what it really takes to get a deal done. Overall, I thought it was a great class and I am not just saying that to get a better grade.
Class dismissed!! Off to Cowtown Café for lunch with the class. Thanks for lunch Dr. Forgey.
One more class completed and on my way to a Masters Degree!!
Makan Martini time!!
J2M out.
Monday, July 12, 2010
7/9/10 – M3 meets to finalize presentation
Metro and I were a little behind the 8 ball on getting everything completed so we vowed to pull an all nighter if need be. Putting the deal structure together took some creativity but we came up with a pretty good capital stack that threw off decent ROI’s and IRR’s plus we made a little bit of money with no money out of our pockets as developers…couple hundred thousand. Another reason we wanted to go with a for sale product was so we did not have to have an operating business and we could walk away when it was completed and start another venture. When we did the sale comps for both the office condo’s and the residential, the numbers were stronger than for the market lease rates and thus crystallized the for sale vs. for rent route. We had equity investors getting 30% ROI’s and 20% IRR’s, mezz debt guys getting 24% ROI’s and 16% IRR’s, and the land owner getting 20% ROI and 13% IRR. We were making $18,000 but we also had other fees built in so in the end with developer fees, commissions and our share of the profit we were up to $200,000 but we backed out taxes and insurance and put in a $25,000 contingency so it dropped it down to approximately $100,000. After getting all the numbers put together and creating the spreadsheets we had to get in presentation format. That took longer than anticipated b/c both me an d Metro are anal about the details and formatting. We finally got it all put together and we shut it down about 3:30 am. At that point, we were going with it so we could at least get a couple of hours sleep b/f we had to present on Sat. morning. Good night and we didn’t even get to have any drinks b/f bed!!
It’s almost over,
J2M
It’s almost over,
J2M
7/7/10 – Chipman Construction
I reached out to a friend of mine who owns a construction company and asked for his assistance in getting the cost for our project. I sent him our conceptual for him to understand what we were trying to construct. I had to give him our site size and the size of the building but he was able to give us the estimated costs for everything. We had forgotten about the site work for the alley and sidewalk but luckily it was not too much more…about $6100. We had also thought we could get away without having to put a sprinkler system in but he said we should plan on it so we did. We told him we wanted to just have the shell space for downstairs b/c we were not sure what the user would want to have as a build out and to what extent. He said the shell would cost about $50 psf and it would be a pretty nice finish out with another $40 psf. He said we need to plan on about $102 psf for the residential and that would get us a very nice finish out with granite countertops, wood floors and good tile work. This is more than what Dr. Forgey wanted however, since we are doing a for sale product vs. a for lease product, and we are targeting a higher cliental, we felt it was going to have to be higher end.
Peace out,
J2M
Peace out,
J2M
Sunday, July 4, 2010
7/2/2010 - Meeting of the Minds - M3 meets to strategize
Martini Makan Management, (M3) met at the Martini Ranch in Grapevine for an all day strategy meeting. While we are still hopeful of connecting with James to get the plans, we made an executive decision to start plan B in case we need it. We go back to or original design and first thing we discover is neither one of us can draw the conceptual model for our presentation but we have a rock star buddy who can - enter Brant Mullen. We get Brant on the phone and beg him to help us and we would take him to a first class dinner...good thing we didn't say we would buy him a first class dinner because
that didn't work. He referred us to Google's Sketchup program and said it's easy and user friendly, just watch the 9 million training videos on YouTube and you'll have it down in 30 minutes. Thanks Brant, I guess the referral is at least worth a Happy Meal at McDonald's.
Here you go Brant, print this out and bring it to McDonald's and tell them I said you deserve a break today.
that didn't work. He referred us to Google's Sketchup program and said it's easy and user friendly, just watch the 9 million training videos on YouTube and you'll have it down in 30 minutes. Thanks Brant, I guess the referral is at least worth a Happy Meal at McDonald's. 
Off to the training video classroom I go. I am going to be an expert in 30 minutes according to Brant. In the meantime, Vishal is researching MLS, Loopnet and others to get comps for our land, retail and residential. 30 minutes later, I am still trying to figure out which video to watch!!! The heck with it, I went ahead and just started pushing buttons and whala, I learned a few keystrokes. We spent the rest of the day figuring out the program and working on the ppt, the comps, a proforma and at 6pm, I needed a drink and Vishal had to meet his family for dinner. Not to worry M3 is gonna come thru.
I'm Makan a Martini, shaken not stirred. I'm done with this stuff for today.
Class tomorrow morning, can't have too many!!
J2M
ps. Did you want to see what we came up with in Sketchup?
Take that to architecture school Brant and sign me up!!!!
6/30/2010 - Connected with James
Despite the fact I actually got through to James on my cell phone while in Canada, we spoke for a minute and then the connection dropped him. I called back twice and could not get thru.
We still have no plans. We are somewhat handicapped here in that we are waiting on the plans so we can talk to Beck to get construction costs and we need to look at the proforma based on the # of units etc. Frustrating!!!
We may have to resort back to our original design and go from there.
Brant, have I told you how much Vishal and I think of you? You are a rock star!! Especially when it comes to conceptual renderings.
Cheers,
J2M
We still have no plans. We are somewhat handicapped here in that we are waiting on the plans so we can talk to Beck to get construction costs and we need to look at the proforma based on the # of units etc. Frustrating!!!
We may have to resort back to our original design and go from there.
Brant, have I told you how much Vishal and I think of you? You are a rock star!! Especially when it comes to conceptual renderings.
Cheers,
J2M
Still having trouble connecting with James for plans
Continued attempts to connect with James to get the plans has been challanging. Despite we have actually talked a couple of times, we still do not have the plans.
*&^%$#!
Challenges!!!!!
I'm out.
J2M
*&^%$#!
Challenges!!!!!
I'm out.
J2M
6/27/2010 - Off to Canada I go.
I have been deployed to Canada for the next three months returning every weekend to come to Dr. Forgey's Saturday classes...that's dedication to the Program, don't you think?!
I am fortunate enough to be working on a 2000 acre development outside of Alberta's Industrial Heartland. This area has the second largest oil reserves in the World second only to Saudi Arabia. We are developing a mixed-use Urban Square based on the principles of New-Urbanism. More specifically, we are marketing to the 40 plus companies that call the Alberta Industrial Heartland home and offering to provide housing for its temporary, long-term and permanent employees just 12 kilometers Southeast of the Heartland. We just completed the annexation of approximately 1500 acres and now the fun begins.
Why do I share this with you? Well because I need an excuse when Dr. Forgey asks what I have been doing all week and I say busy in Canada maybe he'll have sympathy for me...not! Actually, I share this because without my partner Vishal "Metro" Makan, it would be difficult to accomplish anything which requires me to be on the ground in Fort Worth and Metro has my back. Thanks partner.
Long drive, I don't recommend it.
See you next week.
J2M
6/26/2010 - Third Saturday Class
What a surprise...No AC and no Internet!!! Class canceled? Not so fast speed racer!
We have guest speakers lined up today...what do we do?
Forgey to the Rescue, hello Sheraton. Forgey arranges a private dining room at the Sheraton's Shula's 347 Grill and buys everyone breakfast and had I known, I would have skipped breakfast before class. At least I saved him $15.99 for the buffet. I did however take advantage of the free lunch though. Forgey buys lunch for everyone too. Thank you Dr. Forgey.
Owen tells us of his experience and how he went about acquiring the building and what he envisioned. He brought before and after pictures and let me tell you, one had to have a vision to see the diamond in this ruff. As Forgey has said, "either you have it or you don't...it can't be taught". Well Owen has it. Not only did Owen acquire the building, apply for the tax credits, retrofit the building with all the preservationists looking over his shoulder, installed two new elevators, repaired all the exterior windows, new electrical and plumbing, he got it done in 10 months. Matter of fact, he was within weeks of filing bankruptcy getting it done. One key take away was: in order to use the tax credits, you have to have the buyers of the credits be a partner from day one or you can't use them. Owen found this out the hard way and of $500,000 of credits available, I think he said he was only able to use $14,000 of them and they expire this year. Ouch!
While Owen was presenting, Jason's guest speaker, Leslie Houston of Wells Fargo's Community Lending and Investment division joined us. She chimed in and added to the discussion with Owen. After Owen completed his presentation, Leslie discussed the lending perspective. She was very helpful however, the bottom line had not changed...personal guarantees, 50% LTV's, 1.25-1.5 DCR's, and financial statements back by tax returns. Lending is not a reality in this market without meeting these criteria. She did however share with us there is a gov't program from the US Treasury called the "Community Development Financial Institutions" whereby they give large loans to these institutions and in turn they break them down into smaller loans and make them available to the community. Check out this site for more details. http://cdfi.org and this site for the US Treasury. www.cdfifund.gov/ This could provide a better source of funding however, we would need to research it further.
Dana Burghdoff, Deputy Director for the City of Ft. Worth's Planning and Development Dept. then joined us. she was very helpful and in particular for us. We were not sure about the parking requirement and unfortunately we have a minimum due to a certain section of the historic district that is less than 250 feet from our site. It is four little houses that fall into this A-5 zoning and thus we have to meet a minimum number of parking spaces. Not good for our deal. She also helpful for us in that I was going down the wrong path for meeting with the appropriate people for what is called a "Certificate of Appropriateness". The City has a department to aide developers with the conceptual plans and determining if they will be appropriate and if not, how to assist developers get their projects done. Dana also referred us to Randy Hutchinson in the planning and development dept. if we needed any further assistance. Another area helpful to developers is the Urban Design Commission.
Great day considering how it started.
Peace out,
J2M
We have guest speakers lined up today...what do we do?
Forgey to the Rescue, hello Sheraton. Forgey arranges a private dining room at the Sheraton's Shula's 347 Grill and buys everyone breakfast and had I known, I would have skipped breakfast before class. At least I saved him $15.99 for the buffet. I did however take advantage of the free lunch though. Forgey buys lunch for everyone too. Thank you Dr. Forgey.
Now we had to contact the speakers and give them the new venue, but wait, I had Owen coming at the my scheduled time of 10 am but Jason double books his speaker for my time slot...can anything else challenge this morning start? It's all good, Owen is early and we get started. Just giving you a hard time Jason!!
Great day considering how it started.
Peace out,
J2M
6/25/2010 - James, James, James!!!
Continued calls to James with a couple of actual conversations in between. We are assured we can get the plans on Monday.
To be continued.
J2M
To be continued.
J2M
6/24/2010 - Owen Hannay to discuss his perspective on re-developing the Awalt Building
I reached out to a friend of mine, Owen Hannay who re-developed the Awalt Building in Dallas' Historical West End District. www.awaltbuilding.com/ Owen is the President and CEO of Slingshot Advertising Agency www.davidandgoliath.com and they occupy several floors of the Awalt Building. Owen is an Architect by trade but does not practice it. He received his Architecture degree from the University of Virgina and his MBA from SMU.
J2M
J2M
6/22/2010 - "I'm back"
So, how did Mark's perspective strike you?
I shared with Mark, Vishal and I met with James and showed him our model and James' stated we "needed more density to make the numbers work". I also shared with Mark, Vishal and I were working backwards to determine the cash flow needed to make it a viable venture and we may need to add a story or two for the residential piece.
Mark shares more of his perspective on the matter. I quote from his email:
"For example, your comment of the owner that more density is required to "make the numbers work" is predicated upon an idea of income for quantity and not quality. "Cash flow" to be "viable" is quite clear indication that money is the primary, if not only, motive. It might seem un-American, certainly anti-Capitalist, to suggest that that's exactly the problem with the public realm and it's continuing degradation and precaution."
OK and fair enough. One man's further perspective should be respected whether or not you share that perspective. What do you think?
My response to Mark:
"Your world view appears clear to me and very much respected. Often those who do not share a “pluralistic mindset” may find it hard to relate to. Given this is a real estate development class whereby its students are more or less driven to an “achiever mindset” in that, success of the project is predicated on the ability to obtain equity and debt which require the students be cognitive of investor’s “return” and financial institution’s “debt coverage ratios” may cloud their mind to be open to a discussion which is counter to the objective for this particular class assignment."
Mark's response to me:
My belief is / was that any commentary regarding Architecture or design as a discipline was in addition to - to augment - your "success" scenario. To set a higher bar than ROI for an owner or the quick retirement of a bank's 'baby bird' hunger. As an architect concerned with integrity of idea and action, what else would I ethically talk about?
My thoughts back to Mark:
"Perhaps I have jumped to conclusions. I agree with your take on “addition to” and “to augment”. I must admit I failed to see it in this light initially and I appreciate you helping me see it in that way. In retrospect, design is an element the class assignment was told to consider and given “my” first hurdle of financing (not design), I obviously was one dimensional."
Why do I share this with you?
I think there is a balance developers and architects have to reach whereby there are mutually beneficial outcomes of ROI and integrity of idea and action. Be aware of it.
Ponder that!!!
Deeply submitted,
J2M
I shared with Mark, Vishal and I met with James and showed him our model and James' stated we "needed more density to make the numbers work". I also shared with Mark, Vishal and I were working backwards to determine the cash flow needed to make it a viable venture and we may need to add a story or two for the residential piece.
Mark shares more of his perspective on the matter. I quote from his email:
"For example, your comment of the owner that more density is required to "make the numbers work" is predicated upon an idea of income for quantity and not quality. "Cash flow" to be "viable" is quite clear indication that money is the primary, if not only, motive. It might seem un-American, certainly anti-Capitalist, to suggest that that's exactly the problem with the public realm and it's continuing degradation and precaution."
OK and fair enough. One man's further perspective should be respected whether or not you share that perspective. What do you think?
My response to Mark:
"Your world view appears clear to me and very much respected. Often those who do not share a “pluralistic mindset” may find it hard to relate to. Given this is a real estate development class whereby its students are more or less driven to an “achiever mindset” in that, success of the project is predicated on the ability to obtain equity and debt which require the students be cognitive of investor’s “return” and financial institution’s “debt coverage ratios” may cloud their mind to be open to a discussion which is counter to the objective for this particular class assignment."
Mark's response to me:
My belief is / was that any commentary regarding Architecture or design as a discipline was in addition to - to augment - your "success" scenario. To set a higher bar than ROI for an owner or the quick retirement of a bank's 'baby bird' hunger. As an architect concerned with integrity of idea and action, what else would I ethically talk about?
My thoughts back to Mark:
"Perhaps I have jumped to conclusions. I agree with your take on “addition to” and “to augment”. I must admit I failed to see it in this light initially and I appreciate you helping me see it in that way. In retrospect, design is an element the class assignment was told to consider and given “my” first hurdle of financing (not design), I obviously was one dimensional."
Why do I share this with you?
I think there is a balance developers and architects have to reach whereby there are mutually beneficial outcomes of ROI and integrity of idea and action. Be aware of it.
Ponder that!!!
Deeply submitted,
J2M
6/23/2010 - Clairification and apology appreciated...and more.
Mark responded to my follow up email and noted his appreciation for my doing so and wanted me "to know that the lack of tone in the email likely also colored my [his] response about 'free' work."
Lesson two: Design Quality vs. Financial Perfoma
Mark presents a perspective which deserves consideration. I quote from his email:
"To be clear, money has never been my goal in any part of my practice. Any I've ever made has gone back into the project or into books ( as you saw ). You heard me describe pejoratively the 'usual' developer idea of architectural services as "decorating the financial model" - one which denies that the actual quality of the architecture / design of the work might have any real value beyond additional hyperbole in the marketing. Or the notion of the "market" as any kind of index of quality at all."
I will leave it at that for now. Marinate on it and let it resonate with you for a while. I'll come back to it later.
J2M
Lesson two: Design Quality vs. Financial Perfoma
Mark presents a perspective which deserves consideration. I quote from his email:
"To be clear, money has never been my goal in any part of my practice. Any I've ever made has gone back into the project or into books ( as you saw ). You heard me describe pejoratively the 'usual' developer idea of architectural services as "decorating the financial model" - one which denies that the actual quality of the architecture / design of the work might have any real value beyond additional hyperbole in the marketing. Or the notion of the "market" as any kind of index of quality at all."
I will leave it at that for now. Marinate on it and let it resonate with you for a while. I'll come back to it later.
J2M
6/22/2010 - Land Comparable - 1120 W. Magnolia
We contacted Gary Vasseur with Coldwell banker to get the land comp on Magnolia. Seems as though we are in the market at $22 a square foot vs. this property at $30 psf. While I was on the phone with Gary, I asked if the owners would be interested in JV'ing a deal and he said possibly. I asked to to pursue it and get back to me. You never know unless you ask.
So far so good.
More later.
J2M
6/21/2010 - Speaker line up (cont.)
LESSON: The value of good communication is worth noting here.
Long story short...I had a very detailed email for Mark on Sat. in class thanking him for our meeting and requesting his consideration to speak. Unfortunately, the wireless network at UTA does not allow me to send email therefore, I drafted a quick (less detailed) email on my cell phone so as to get it out ASAP. It was interpreted as thank you for meeting and we were not interested in pursuing his services rather we just wanted a "free" speaking engagement from him. Fair enough and understood. A follow up email with the original email I drafted in class on my computer was forwarded to him apologizing for the poor communication on my part and to confirm we are not just looking for free services. I gave him the details requested about the speaking engagement and we would follow up with him after our further discussions with James.
More to come.
BTW, another call to James to no avail.
J2M
Long story short...I had a very detailed email for Mark on Sat. in class thanking him for our meeting and requesting his consideration to speak. Unfortunately, the wireless network at UTA does not allow me to send email therefore, I drafted a quick (less detailed) email on my cell phone so as to get it out ASAP. It was interpreted as thank you for meeting and we were not interested in pursuing his services rather we just wanted a "free" speaking engagement from him. Fair enough and understood. A follow up email with the original email I drafted in class on my computer was forwarded to him apologizing for the poor communication on my part and to confirm we are not just looking for free services. I gave him the details requested about the speaking engagement and we would follow up with him after our further discussions with James.
More to come.
BTW, another call to James to no avail.
J2M
6/20/2010 - Speaker line up & getting plans from James
The dialogues begin.
Mark Gunderson responds to my request to speak and wants more information on the topic.
Phone calls to James to no avail.
Part successful, part challenging.
Cheers,
J2M
Mark Gunderson responds to my request to speak and wants more information on the topic.
Phone calls to James to no avail.
Part successful, part challenging.
Cheers,
J2M
6/19/2010 - Second Saturday Class
The koolaide is pouring strong. We are all excited about our project after researching yesterday and we're anxious to get the plans from James. After discussing our projects in class, come to find out Jerod is related to James through marriage and we got a little more insight from him...all good and confirming what we already had found out about him (James).
Seems as though every one's project research is revealing a lot of the same information. I particularly like hearing what the other teams are experiencing in terms of what challenges and successes they are having. I don't feel alone with ours.
Class Assignment: Line up guest speakers for class discussion next Saturday. Since we had initial discussion with Architect Mark Gunderson, I signed up for the "Design" topic.
Class dismissed for lunch...Yucatan Taco Stand in Southside with the class. What better way to get to get entrenched in the community than to patronize the local eateries.
The rest of the afternoon was allocated to getting more research completed and that we did.
Adios Amigos
J2M
ps. Brant, no need for apologies for your three meetings vs. my "initial" two...read on and you'll note I had three on 6/18/10 as well.
And, Happy Birthday Mom.
Seems as though every one's project research is revealing a lot of the same information. I particularly like hearing what the other teams are experiencing in terms of what challenges and successes they are having. I don't feel alone with ours.
Class Assignment: Line up guest speakers for class discussion next Saturday. Since we had initial discussion with Architect Mark Gunderson, I signed up for the "Design" topic.
Class dismissed for lunch...Yucatan Taco Stand in Southside with the class. What better way to get to get entrenched in the community than to patronize the local eateries.
The rest of the afternoon was allocated to getting more research completed and that we did.
Adios Amigos
J2M
ps. Brant, no need for apologies for your three meetings vs. my "initial" two...read on and you'll note I had three on 6/18/10 as well.
And, Happy Birthday Mom.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
6/18/2010 - Ft. WorthSouth, Wells Fargo & Cat City
Another day in Ft. Worth researching or is it due diligence now?
We visited with Mike Brennen at Ft. Worth South and shared with him the site we have and who we were dealing with, James Noryian. Per James, we asked to see the plans from Beck and he offered a rendering of a building but was not able to leave it with us as he was not sure who owned the plans. Apparently, about a year ago a developer by the name of Joe Frank had proposed a project to James that never came to fruition and Mike was not sure if the plans he had were owned by Joe or James hence we did not get them. Not to worry, we contacted James and we will have his plans on Monday. Mike also shared with us the plans by Beck may not pass the neighborhoods approval as they are a bit too modern.
He told us Comerica had bought an old house, demolished it and were going to build their standard bank and the neighborhood vehemently protested it. Comerica had to go back to the community and change their building plans and facade to blend into the existing look and feel of the neighborhood presumably a PR nightmare and no doubtingly a costly mistake. Mike also suggested we talk to Vance ?? owner of Lili's and Cat City Grill (hope it's not a Chinese restaurant). We then proceeded to look for Vance at Lili's and he wasn't there so we went to Cat City and he wasn't there either but we did get a chance to talk to his partner Lance. We talk about the area,if he was happy with his sales, and tried to get him to tell us what he was paying in rent but he wouldn't. He did however tell us that $18 psf was in the range for the rents in the area so that helped. We also patronized his bar with two cold blue moons.
Friday, June 18, 2010
6/17/2010 - Two great meetings
Prior to today, we spent time on the phone getting two great meetings set up and today we had those meetings. First we met with Mark Gunderson (see this link for some of his work) and he spent about two hours with us and probably would have spent more time with us but we had to go meet the owner of the tract of land we chose for our project. Mark was the original architect on the OleanderWest Project www.oleanderwest.com and has practiced in that area for 25 years and knows all the players. He was a wealth of information. He shared his thoughts and thinks the crude drawings we did have merit and would work. We then talked about how we could get him on our team and we apparently peeked his interest and although we did not get a yes because we told him this was a real but class project and we did not provide any financial compensation to retain him. However he did break it down for us in terms of what it would cost if we wanted to get him on the team. Here's the break down:
Basically it is in 5 stages;
1. Schematic Design 15%;
2. Design/Development 20%;
3. Construction documents 40%;
4. Construction/Bid 5% and
5. Construction 20%.
for a total of between 8% -10% of construction costs. He also said that he could work by the hour with a not exceed amount based on the percentages above. We told him Dr. Forgey would help pay for the first 15% to get it started!
Further, Mark was very helpful and told us a few people we needed to reach out to, namely the Historic Preservation officer for the City and Joel Burns, City Council Member. He also knows Mark Bennett and all the peeps at Fort Worth South. He could be very instrumental in getting us through the approval process and a design that works. We liked his way of architecture and his thought process. All in all, we found an architect we feel would be good for the project.
On to the next meeting. James Noryian is the owner of the tract of land we chose and met with him and his attorney at the restaurant next door. They had already ordered dinner so we had dinner and a couple of beers. He even bought, what a treat. We discussed his tract of land and what other stuff he had done. He is a UT-Austin graduate and has been in Real Estate for 30+ years and owns a lot of property around Texas and other parts of the country. He is in his 50's and after talking with him about our project, he liked it but said two stories wouldn't make the numbers work and offered up he has full set of plans from Beck for a 4-story mixed-use project and we were welcome to them for free. Speaking of free, he told about a story of how he acquired the property and it took him 2 years and he had to convince the City that two of the four houses he took off the property he would move 2 to other lots and re-hab them and when he wanted to do the same for the two houses behind his property they said no...he offered that if we could get the City to let us move the two houses behind the property there now, he would give us hos property for free!!! Anyway, we continued to visit and although it was not mentioned this was a class project, and since he offered up his plans that would be significantly more money, I first asked why he didn't do it himself and he said he has been doing this for 30 years and it's not about the money anymore its about his time...if he was younger he probably would but he is leaving for Europe for an extend period of time and he is a hands on kinda guy; it just didn't make sense for him right now and second, I asked if he would consider JV'ing the deal and putting the land in as equity and he said yes, put something together and get back to me. He also offered up everyone knows him b/c of all the stuff he has done in the area and he referred us to Able Sanchez, the banker at Wells Fargo and said he would hep us finance it and that Mark at FW South has all the Beck plans and knows he would do anything to help us get this development done. Needless to say, we are headed over to FW South and Wells Fargo tomorrow. Dr. Forgey, you may have to put up a personal gurantee but we'll give a you a piece of the deal!!
Things are getting interesting for sure. We'll keep you posted.
Basically it is in 5 stages;
1. Schematic Design 15%;
2. Design/Development 20%;
3. Construction documents 40%;
4. Construction/Bid 5% and
5. Construction 20%.
for a total of between 8% -10% of construction costs. He also said that he could work by the hour with a not exceed amount based on the percentages above. We told him Dr. Forgey would help pay for the first 15% to get it started!
Further, Mark was very helpful and told us a few people we needed to reach out to, namely the Historic Preservation officer for the City and Joel Burns, City Council Member. He also knows Mark Bennett and all the peeps at Fort Worth South. He could be very instrumental in getting us through the approval process and a design that works. We liked his way of architecture and his thought process. All in all, we found an architect we feel would be good for the project.
On to the next meeting. James Noryian is the owner of the tract of land we chose and met with him and his attorney at the restaurant next door. They had already ordered dinner so we had dinner and a couple of beers. He even bought, what a treat. We discussed his tract of land and what other stuff he had done. He is a UT-Austin graduate and has been in Real Estate for 30+ years and owns a lot of property around Texas and other parts of the country. He is in his 50's and after talking with him about our project, he liked it but said two stories wouldn't make the numbers work and offered up he has full set of plans from Beck for a 4-story mixed-use project and we were welcome to them for free. Speaking of free, he told about a story of how he acquired the property and it took him 2 years and he had to convince the City that two of the four houses he took off the property he would move 2 to other lots and re-hab them and when he wanted to do the same for the two houses behind his property they said no...he offered that if we could get the City to let us move the two houses behind the property there now, he would give us hos property for free!!! Anyway, we continued to visit and although it was not mentioned this was a class project, and since he offered up his plans that would be significantly more money, I first asked why he didn't do it himself and he said he has been doing this for 30 years and it's not about the money anymore its about his time...if he was younger he probably would but he is leaving for Europe for an extend period of time and he is a hands on kinda guy; it just didn't make sense for him right now and second, I asked if he would consider JV'ing the deal and putting the land in as equity and he said yes, put something together and get back to me. He also offered up everyone knows him b/c of all the stuff he has done in the area and he referred us to Able Sanchez, the banker at Wells Fargo and said he would hep us finance it and that Mark at FW South has all the Beck plans and knows he would do anything to help us get this development done. Needless to say, we are headed over to FW South and Wells Fargo tomorrow. Dr. Forgey, you may have to put up a personal gurantee but we'll give a you a piece of the deal!!
Things are getting interesting for sure. We'll keep you posted.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
6/15/2010 - Information Package and Site/Building Layout Drawings
We also got a call back from Wayne Lawrence, former COO of the Warrior Group to discuss the possibility of doing this project in a modular format and LEED certified. He said he would help us bring a manufacturer to the table when discussing the opportunity.
Finally, we sent an email to Mark Gunderson, a Fort Worth Architect who is familiar with Near Southside in hopes we can get him to sign on and help with some renderings. That has pretty much consumed my day.
Cheers,
J2M
6/14/10 - The Research Begins
The day started out with a return phone call from the Caldwell Banker broker (Gary) on the 15,000 sf corner lot on Magnolia East of the site we chose. Gary indicated they wanted $30 psf. This is $8 psf more than our site and frankly, we like our site better. Further, Gary stated the owners were going to develop it themselves as mixed-use Residential/Commercial - Live/Work but were unable to secure financing. We asked him to see if the owners would consider a JV and get back to us. Later in the day, I received an email from him and they are not interested in JV'ing. Oh well.
I then took the time to print and read the 89 pages of the "Near SouthSide Development Standards and Guidelines" and determined a few things. Southside is dedicated to new-urbanism in realizing it's revitalization goals for Near Southside which pretty cool. They adopted the new form-based "MU" mixed-use zoning classification. Form-based standards emphasis is on shaping the form of buildings and public spaces rather than the segregation of different land uses. Among other things, they encourage creativity, architectural diversity and exceptional design while discouraging uniformity. That's flexible. This flexibility is further encouraged to adapt to changing conditions over time. This fits perfectly into Dr. Forgey's project criteria. They should love the glass garage doors.
We also need to be cognizant of the other regulatory documents namely: the historic preservation ordinance, off-street parking and loading and finally, the sign ordinance and downtown sign standards.
The Urban Design Commission (UDC),will issue a Certificate of Appropriateness (COA) that cites a projects compliance with the above mentioned principles. The UDC is a 9 member body appointed by the City Council of which six of the nine are practicing professionals. There is also a Development Review Process that will assist in getting your project started in the right direction. They meet with potential developers on Mon and Thurs. We have sent an email to the director (david.schroeder@fortworthgov.org) to seek a time to meet and will await his response. There is also a formal request form to fill out and send in on the City's website.There is a Application For A Certificate of Appropriateness on the site which tells you the required documents you need with the application on the City's Website.
We also confirmed the site we chose is in fact in the TIF and the broker told us the zoning was T5 and according to the The Transect Classification System, we are not T5 - Urban Center Zone, rather T4 - General Urban Zone, so we will get with the broker and confirm. The property is located in the Southwest portion of the Development Zone and the T4 Standards are as such: 20-ft. max front setback; 18-ft min. facade height; 3 stories max if single use; 5 stories max w/ public space or mix of uses; 6 stories max w/public space and mix of uses; parking behind or beside buildings. Our property is located along Magnolia street which is classified as Main collector street - walkable, mixed-use streets of moderate to high density. These are primary destination streets with active ground floor uses and on-street parking, and are comfortable and safe for bicyclists; have less than 8000 vehicles per day and further classified as a minor collector street - usually undivided with 3-4 travel lanes. Magnolia also has a striped bike lane.
There is a lot of information to be found in this document and is advisable to read through it. One other CAUTION of note is: under parking and driveways, #6. Residential Garages - Garages should not front public pedestrian space. Garages shall be accessed from alleys or rear driveway or shall be detached and located at the rear of the site. Also of note, look at the Architectural Standards section and more specifically; D.1 and D.2. - Ground floor transparency for non-residential uses. Be sure and check the "permitted land uses" as well. There is also a Development Review Checklist that could be helpful.
We are alos looking into HUD's - Mortgage Insurance for Rental Housing for Urban Renewal and Concentrated Development Areas: Section 220. It's purpose is: Section 220 insures lenders against loss on mortgage defaults. Section 220 provides good quality rental housing in urban areas that have been targeted for overall revitalization. Section 220 insures mortgages on new or rehabilitated housing located in designated urban renewal areas, and in areas with concentrated programs of code enforcement, and neighborhood development. http://www.hud.gov/offices/hsg/mfh/progdesc/renturbanhsg220.cfm
Finally, for whatever it is worth, I laid in bed from 10pm - until about 11:15pm going over the design of our building in my head and thinking about all the things we could incorporate into it including my patent-pending toilet fartfan-an exhaust fan built into the toilet itself. I like the open concept of the units and if you have a walled but open ceiling in the bathroom, you have to have a way to exhaust the smell so as not to have an unpleasant order lingering throughout the rest of the unit. I will not be able to share the design at this time as the patent is still pending.
That's it for now boys. Same bat time and bat station tomorrow!!
Cheers,
J2M
I then took the time to print and read the 89 pages of the "Near SouthSide Development Standards and Guidelines" and determined a few things. Southside is dedicated to new-urbanism in realizing it's revitalization goals for Near Southside which pretty cool. They adopted the new form-based "MU" mixed-use zoning classification. Form-based standards emphasis is on shaping the form of buildings and public spaces rather than the segregation of different land uses. Among other things, they encourage creativity, architectural diversity and exceptional design while discouraging uniformity. That's flexible. This flexibility is further encouraged to adapt to changing conditions over time. This fits perfectly into Dr. Forgey's project criteria. They should love the glass garage doors.
We also need to be cognizant of the other regulatory documents namely: the historic preservation ordinance, off-street parking and loading and finally, the sign ordinance and downtown sign standards.
The Urban Design Commission (UDC),will issue a Certificate of Appropriateness (COA) that cites a projects compliance with the above mentioned principles. The UDC is a 9 member body appointed by the City Council of which six of the nine are practicing professionals. There is also a Development Review Process that will assist in getting your project started in the right direction. They meet with potential developers on Mon and Thurs. We have sent an email to the director (david.schroeder@fortworthgov.org) to seek a time to meet and will await his response. There is also a formal request form to fill out and send in on the City's website.There is a Application For A Certificate of Appropriateness on the site which tells you the required documents you need with the application on the City's Website.
We also confirmed the site we chose is in fact in the TIF and the broker told us the zoning was T5 and according to the The Transect Classification System, we are not T5 - Urban Center Zone, rather T4 - General Urban Zone, so we will get with the broker and confirm. The property is located in the Southwest portion of the Development Zone and the T4 Standards are as such: 20-ft. max front setback; 18-ft min. facade height; 3 stories max if single use; 5 stories max w/ public space or mix of uses; 6 stories max w/public space and mix of uses; parking behind or beside buildings. Our property is located along Magnolia street which is classified as Main collector street - walkable, mixed-use streets of moderate to high density. These are primary destination streets with active ground floor uses and on-street parking, and are comfortable and safe for bicyclists; have less than 8000 vehicles per day and further classified as a minor collector street - usually undivided with 3-4 travel lanes. Magnolia also has a striped bike lane.
There is a lot of information to be found in this document and is advisable to read through it. One other CAUTION of note is: under parking and driveways, #6. Residential Garages - Garages should not front public pedestrian space. Garages shall be accessed from alleys or rear driveway or shall be detached and located at the rear of the site. Also of note, look at the Architectural Standards section and more specifically; D.1 and D.2. - Ground floor transparency for non-residential uses. Be sure and check the "permitted land uses" as well. There is also a Development Review Checklist that could be helpful.
We are alos looking into HUD's - Mortgage Insurance for Rental Housing for Urban Renewal and Concentrated Development Areas: Section 220. It's purpose is: Section 220 insures lenders against loss on mortgage defaults. Section 220 provides good quality rental housing in urban areas that have been targeted for overall revitalization. Section 220 insures mortgages on new or rehabilitated housing located in designated urban renewal areas, and in areas with concentrated programs of code enforcement, and neighborhood development. http://www.hud.gov/offices/hsg/mfh/progdesc/renturbanhsg220.cfm
Finally, for whatever it is worth, I laid in bed from 10pm - until about 11:15pm going over the design of our building in my head and thinking about all the things we could incorporate into it including my patent-pending toilet fartfan-an exhaust fan built into the toilet itself. I like the open concept of the units and if you have a walled but open ceiling in the bathroom, you have to have a way to exhaust the smell so as not to have an unpleasant order lingering throughout the rest of the unit. I will not be able to share the design at this time as the patent is still pending.
That's it for now boys. Same bat time and bat station tomorrow!!
Cheers,
J2M
Monday, June 14, 2010
Look out SouthSide...Here we come!!
Class would have started promptly at 8am, however Dr. Forgey wanted to wait until Jason made it so he didn't have to repeat himself...Well 10 minutes later we started and yes Dr. Forgey had to repeat himself as Jason strolled in about 8:35am.
There are 7 of us in the class broken into 3 teams and one quickly learns, the early bird always gets the worm...thus I was quick to pick my teammate Vishal Makan, AKA, "Metro". We then were told what the game plan was for the Project. We were to select a site in the Near SouthSide District of Fort Worth (also know as the Medical District) to either construct or to do an adaptive re-use on an existing building and convert it to a "flexible" 4-plex residential project. Key word "flexible", in that at some point it may be turned into a commercial or retail space.
So after an illustration of the ideas Dr. Forgey had in mind, we took a field trip to the SouthSide and were shown some of the projects that might be feasible to do. We ultimately ended up at the Paris Coffee Shop for a bite to eat. It's a landmark in SouthSide for breakfast. I ate a waffle for the first time in years and yes it was very good. We then came back to the classroom for a little more discussion about the project, namely the use of glass roll-up doors in both the front and back of the building. We were then able to break into our teams and go forth and wander the neighborhood and find a site. Vishal and I pretty much decided to do new construction so we went looking for vacant land. We both immediately agreed it had to be in a place that had some Vibe to it. Since neither of us were too familiar with the area we identified the boundaries of the TIF district and just drove it. We ultimately found the spot - Magnolia between 7th and Fairmont, just three blocks from Baylor in the heart of the Vibe we were looking for. A quick walk of the property and we believe it is about 21,000 sf and easily dividable in half. We called the broker and it is going for $22 sf. The broker is in town on Wed and will be meeting with us to discuss it further. We have some preliminary ideas on how to go about the design in our heads and are considering talking with the Warrior Group to go modular. We'll be setting up meetings with them to discuss it as well.
We then came back to the class to discuss our projects and for Dr. Forgey to get an idea of whether or not we are headed in the right direction. Metro and I were the first back and we told Dr. Forgey our thoughts and he was good with it.
Finally, we did one last field trip so each of the teams could discuss the project they picked.
Now comes the fun part...making it happen!!
Cheers,
J2M
There are 7 of us in the class broken into 3 teams and one quickly learns, the early bird always gets the worm...thus I was quick to pick my teammate Vishal Makan, AKA, "Metro". We then were told what the game plan was for the Project. We were to select a site in the Near SouthSide District of Fort Worth (also know as the Medical District) to either construct or to do an adaptive re-use on an existing building and convert it to a "flexible" 4-plex residential project. Key word "flexible", in that at some point it may be turned into a commercial or retail space.
We then came back to the class to discuss our projects and for Dr. Forgey to get an idea of whether or not we are headed in the right direction. Metro and I were the first back and we told Dr. Forgey our thoughts and he was good with it.
Finally, we did one last field trip so each of the teams could discuss the project they picked.
Now comes the fun part...making it happen!!
Cheers,
J2M
REAE 5323 - Project Studio
Class has begun. Saturdays will be occupied for the next 5 weeks at the UTA "Santa Fe" Fort Worth Center. This will be fun.
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