Richmond Business & Commercial News

Video from AngryRenter.com

I forgot to add this to my post this morning about the government "bailout" of the mortgage industry, but it summarizes the points made by the opposition to the bailout very well (and especially well if you prefer video over text):



Enjoy!

Bailing out irresponsible investors?

I've been on the fence for a while about whether the proposed mortgage "bailout" is the right thing to do. 

I believe very much in the free market economy and that what we do with our money is each individual's responsibility.  The thought of using taxpayers' money to subsidize bad investments is horrifying to me, and only encourages unscrupulous behavior.

There is a large contingent of the general public that believes the same as my initial reaction, and some of them have gone public on a site called Angry Renter.  There is a petition that you can sign that will be presented to Congress in opposition to what they are describing as, " Congress is getting ready to pass a multi-billion dollar bailout of homeowners and their banks. That's right, Congress is going to use your tax dollars to bail out big banks and keep housing prices too high!"

A post on the Inman Blog echoed my doubts pretty much exactly:

No doubt, on the surface it does appear as if irresponsible investing will be subsidized by taxpayers. But what angry renters may not realize is that they will pay for these mistakes whether there is a government bailout or not -- in the form of depreciating home values, loss of city revenues, and a dragging economy.

While I'm still on the fence, a little too able to see both sides, I'm curious to hear what you all think of the situation.  Is this a tax on the responsible, to bail out the irresponsible?  Or is it a necessary part of stabilizing our economy?

Read this warning before buying new home construction!

I'm not a residential real estate agent (although I can refer you to several good ones, if you need), so I don't usually address home purchasing issues on this blog.  I do, however, follow many good blogs that focus on residential real estate and every once in a while come across a gem that begs to be shared.  Going forward, I'll be sure to share those postings here when the topic is applicable to the Richmond market.

Here is the first of these postings:  "Buying new construction without a Realtor? Read this first!" by Jim Duncan on REALCentralVA.com.

Jim makes a good point that:

One size certainly does not fit all. Certainly, not all new construction contracts are this odious and one-sided, but buyers (and Realtors) need to be aware that this type of contract is out there, is being used and is being signed by Buyers without even a hint of Buyer Representation.

Be sure to read Jim's post.  It's scary that this kind of language is in a contract.  Another lesson to take from this is always read before you sign anything and make sure you understand the language that is being used.

Latest Plans for the Boulevard

A short but very interesting article in this morning's RTD discusses the redevelopment plans for the area around the Diamond on Boulevard.  The focus of the article was more on the deadline yesterday for developers to submit their bids on the project, but I found the details of the City's plans for the area to be more interesting than the names of the developers

(Although, it is interesting that Douglas Development Corp. has bid on the project.  That's the firm owned by Douglas Jemal.  They are firmly entrenched in DC and Maryland, and have been buying up properties downtown over the past couple of years.)

Per the advertised qualifications for the bids, the City has outlined their vision of the redevelopment:

• a new 8,000-seat baseball stadium closer to I-95 -- When I first read that,  I couldn't imagine it being very much closer than the Diamond is now, but it could be moved back towards the I-95 South entrance ramp.
• redevelopment of the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control headquarters, perhaps to include the relocation of the Richmond Coliseum to this site
• demolish the Diamond, using the 27-acre site for a mixed-use development
• demolish the city maintenance complex, resulting in another 27-acre site for redevelopment
• build a parking deck beside the Arthur Ashe Center

It will be interesting to see it all move forward, and to see the renderings that the chosen developer presents.  If anyone has further insight on the project, I would love to hear more!

Comments on The Crupi Report

I just finished reading The Crupi Report, and there is quite a bit that I agree with...and some that I don't.  Instead of taking this post to get into the individual points that I am for or against, I wanted to share my most immediate gut criticisms of the report:

1. What was up with the misspellings?  I noticed a handful sprinkled throughout the report (and I wasn't looking for them) --- "lose" was mispelled a couple of times, i.e.
2. What is the "medium of house prices"?  I assume Dr. Crupi meant "median", but I can't be sure.  Maybe he meant average?  Who knows...
3. There was a quote from "A black leader" that said "I drank from the back of the bus, but it doesn't define my life."  I get the meaning and appreciate it.  But, am I missing some piece of historical reference here or is that a mixed reference -- i.e., sitting at the back of the bus and having to drink at a different water fountain?  Given the other mistakes in the report, I don't know whether that is a misquote or the actual words he/she used.  Either way, it's  wouldn't have used it in the report as-is.

My point is not to be nit-picky, but come on, these are pretty simple mistakes to catch and correct.  Why undermine your credibility by letting them slip through?  I certainly don't think that my writing is perfect, but I'm not getting paid to produce reports that are going to be read by an entire region.

Getting past the simple mistakes, I enjoyed the overall theme of urging cooperation and overarching vision as necessary for the strategic growth of the entire region.

One of my favorite quotes from the report was:  "It is ironic that while people in the counties recognize that the city can influence it with negative pollitical and economic images, they under-appreciate the benefits of what would happen if those same images were positive."

I am anticipating a great future for the Richmond-metro area, and I think that this report was a great way to generate interest and involvement by the general populace.

New Downtown Master Plan released today

The new Downtown Master Plan was presented today.  See the following link for a quick RTD article about it: Richmond leaders see vision of downtown - News - inRich.com.

Here are links to the different parts of the plan:

• Table of Contents
• Chapter One – Research & Analysis
• Chapter Two – Designing in Public
• Chapter Three – Foundations of the Plan
• Chapter Four – Getting There
• Chapter Five – Transportation Analysis
• Chapter Six – Housing & Market Analysis
• Chapter Seven – Implementation

It looks like a night of reading reports, between this new release and catching up on The Crupi Report.  I hope to have some insightful feedback for you within the next couple of days.

New High Schools for West End

Two new high schools are slated for the ever-developing West End of Henrico.  One of the newest high schools in that area, Deep Run, is expected to have 1,853 students as of next fall -- and that's already 3 students above the intended capacity.

The first new high school is planned for 2010, on the site south of Springfield Road, off of Staples Mill Road.  The contract for that site was approved last month for $13.6M.

The second site is 205 acres on Kain Road, slightly northwest of Short Pump Town Center.  The proposed purchase price (including site reviews and other costs) is $26.7M, and the intended usage would be not only a new high school for 2016 (or earlier), but also a public park and a fire station.

See "Henrico targets Short Pump site for future school" in this morning's RTD (or yesterday's shorter, online version "Henrico considers large land purchase") for more details.  It's a very interesting read, even just to keep informed on who the players are in Henrico's development.

UPDATE: "Chippenham Place" (Cloverleaf Mall)

Last week, the Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors approved Crosland's initial plans for the redevelopment of Cloverleaf Mall.  The plans include at least 500 residential units and 200,000 SF of commercial space.

From an older report, the outparcels that have been consistently active will remain, and Kroger has signed on to build out their largest store yet in the Richmond-metro area.

This certainly sounds like it is moving along nicely, and it will help the area turn around after years of decline.

For a more thorough report of the announcement, read "Cloverleaf's Newest 'Place'" on Richmond.com.  Here is a clip from that article that I found gives us some insight on the timeframe we are looking at for the redevelopment:

“It’s not unrealistic for a project of this size to be absorbed over a period of four years perhaps even until build out,” [James Downs, vice president for Crosland’s retail division] said. “The commercial component, however, we see moving forward immediately.”

(For previous posts about this topic, see Something's Moving at Cloverleaf Mall on 12-28-06)

Something's Moving at Cloverleaf Mall

This bit of news slipped by me when it hit the RTD a couple of weeks ago, but thanks to the Chamber of Commerce pointing it out I'm all up to date! 

After a long period of silence about the status of Cloverleaf Mall, there is movement.  In January, Chesterfield County officials expect to have a signed purchase agreement from Crosland Inc., who will be redeveloping the site.  The buyers have been involved since May 2006, and have several versions of a proposal that calls for redeveloping the aged mall into a mixed-use development.

Several plans have been proposed since Chesterfield purchased the property in 2004, all of which include a "pedestrian-friendly community that blends residential and business components".  The county has said that it will be subsidizing the redevelopment, in order to make it work.

How to buy a house on a golf course

Ahhh, the complexities of something that you thought might actually be easy.  But then, it's all easy from the outside, right?

I don't know if I've said this here before, but I am not a residential Realtor.  I am licensed such that I can act as one, but it's really not my specialty.  For all parties involved (myself included), I would prefer to refer out the business to someone that specializes in it.  Commercial real estate and residential real estate are two very different beasties, and I like the commercial side -- even if it includes the odd investment single-family home from time to time.  It's just a different mode of thought.

I can do residential representation, and have done it a couple of choice times for choice clients.  I actually enjoyed the negotiation part the most, since it's on a much faster pace than commercial transactions.  (not to slight the commercial transactions at all, but I enjoy having the tight time frame for a response as leverage for my client)

This all being said, I still enjoy keeping up on the constant education that is available online and in trade magazines.  That way I'm still sharp when the next choice client asks me to help them out on a residential issue.  And, I like to pass along the occassional tidbit to you when I come across a gem.

For example:  This article on GolfCourseRealty.com, "In the market for a golf-course home?  Here's what to look for", is a keeper.  It is very well-thought out, and raises a lot of good points about this process that I wouldn't have considered -- until getting into an evaluation of a house in that situation.  Plus, who knows if these issues would have really been considered before a decision was reached?  Much better to go into the evaluation of a home with your eyes wide open, rather than trying to learn as you go along.