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fernz

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Everything posted by fernz

  1. fernz
    Well said Luminare.
  2. fernz
    Is it really a change, or are we just looking at a side we hadn't seen before?
  3. fernz
    Technically speaking, height is measured from average street level, not the entrance. I see nothing odd with how heights are measured, no reason to count underground levels.
  4. fernz
    Techn
  5. fernz
    Not familiar with SA, but Austin was designed as an international terminal, and does include segregation of passengers as well an immigration facility. The segregation is for incoming passengers only, not outgoing. When international passengers come in, they are in 'international' territory until they clear immigration. They are not allowed to mingle with the rest of the population in the airport. The corridors between the gates and the immigration area, as well as the entire immigration area, are highly secure areas. In terminals whith both national and international passengers (such as Austin or IAH terminal E), there are corridors between gates designated for international travel and the rest of the terminal. You have no option but to go to the immigration area once you come off the plane. In terminals with only international travel, the terminal is open like any other terminal, but the only way out is thru immigration. The only way around it is for travelers coming from countries such as Canada ( I think a handful other countries have similar deals). In Canada, passengers coming to the US actually clear immigration and customs in the outgoing airports. The US government actually operates out of these foreign airports. In that case, planes from those airports can come into any airport in the US.
  6. fernz
    You can build a facility or you can build a terminal, but the fact is a new building is needed to house the customs and immigration functions. While you're at it, you might as well build the additional gates you need for those new international flights, unless you are willing to drop existing national routes, because there are no idle gates in that airport. And if you did that, you would have a terrible experience because of the retrofit needed to segregate those existing gates for international travelers. Not sure what 'deal' you are talking about, but Southwest is footing the bill for the most part. I'm sure they looked at the best value while keeping their customers happy. They are a profitable company for a reason.
  7. fernz
    What a wasted opportunity!
  8. fernz
    ?? You just answered your issue. They cannot start int'l flights immediately without a customs (and more importantly, immigration) facility. Why is it stupid then? Technically, there's everything wrong with the current terminal as far as international flights are concerned.
  9. fernz
    Well, these are the owners that were willing to sell. You don't think Hines approached owners of vacant land first so they could save the cost of demolition?
  10. fernz
    They may also keep West Ave in mind. Businesses are having a hard time staying open in that location.
  11. fernz
    I disagree. If your largest tenant decides not to renew the lease in full, that's when you start shopping around for interested buyers. You're not so keen on selling when you have a steady revenue stream. But if all of a sudden you need to market to get new tenants, pay commissions and TI allowances, you might as well sell your property.
  12. fernz
    It's sad to loose this tower, but it's a good sign. The developers probably got sticker shock from their fancy design when they got bids in, and realized they would need really high rents to make it work. In a healthy market, you scrap your unique design and ask your architects to come up with a more feasible alternative. If we were in the middle of a bubble, they would go ahead assuming rents will keep going up an people will pay top dollar for their awesome apartments...that's how you end up with empty towers.
  13. fernz
    Thtat's right. I was on 15th just South of P street. That Safeway was known as the Russian Safeway because it was small, had a poor selection, things were regularly out of stock, and always had long lines. But it was much cheaper than Whole Foods!
  14. fernz
    Fat chance, unless it's mixed used....and still not looking very likely, IMO. Yes, there is a Houstonian condo high rise, next to the Houstonian hotel. http://www.har.com/highrisefinder/dispHirDetail.cfm?building_id=14
  15. fernz
    I agree. When you say marginal at best, you're being kind.
  16. fernz
    There you go; thanks Houston 19514.
  17. fernz
    I read somewhere that 85% of this building will be diverted away from landfills; which means they will be salvaging much of the materials. Which also means the demo will take longer than usual.
  18. fernz
    Like Astro World, which was redeveloped into a Rodeo parking lot!
  19. fernz
    As much as I hate most his work, Randal Davis came to Downtown a long time ago, before anyone ever thought Downtown living could be cool. He developed the Dakota lofts and the Rice Lofts (there may be others I forget) about 15 years ago. And both of those are actually great projects, from RD, believe it or not.
  20. fernz
    This one has land around it, Astoria is using the entire plot. That makes logistics much more difficult.
  21. fernz
    EB5 is an immigration visa that pretty much allows wealthy foreign nationals to "buy" a green card, by investing in a job-producing commercial enterprise. In can be anything, doesn't have to be real estate, doesn't have to be condos - it just needs to be for-profit and create jobs. From a RE perspective, I do agree with Mr. Contreras that it makes more sense for condos, since traditional financing is so easily available these days for apartments. Condos require pre-sales, and that's where the foreign investors come in. The big news flash to me was that this is a Randall Davis project. It could be possible, that after his Galveston and South Padre projects were foreclosed, he is having a hard time getting bank financing for these apartments, so he is using this creative alternative which he already knows how to navigate.
  22. fernz
    That is hilarious.
  23. fernz
    Exactly!
  24. fernz
    You can't compare with Belfiore, which is a condo. Unlike apartments, condos require a high pre-sales percentage (would guess in the 40's or 50's these days) to get their construction financing; so developers spend a lot of money in pre sales before breaking ground. On the other hand, apartments typically start preleasing only a few months before opening the first phase. In my experience, 25% prelease is actually quite high. Most apartments open with only about 20-30% of units available, so at 25% they are pretty much "sold-out" for phase 1.
  25. fernz
    They don't need any drones. Developers have been using blimps for a long time. http://www.blimpphoto.com And you bet Hines did something of the kind; it's one of the best tools during preleasing.
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