Sovereign At The Ballpark: Multifamily At 100 Crawford St.

[Highrise Tower]

[hindesky]

[Highrise Tower]

Few days ago

 

[rechlin]

Today, looks like I was just a floor or two higher than @ekdrm2d1 (not chosen for the jury though!):

 

[Luminare]

3 hours ago, rechlin said:

Today, looks like I was just a floor or two higher than @ekdrm2d1 (not chosen for the jury though!):

 

 

Maybe we know why from this photo. Clearly you were distracted haha.

[hindesky]

[Highrise Tower]

[Urbannizer]

Anyone else thinks this one is moving pretty slowly? It’s the same developer as Dolce Midtown so I wouldn’t be surprised if this takes 5 years to finish.

[MarathonMan]

7 hours ago, Urbannizer said:

Anyone else thinks this one is moving pretty slowly? It’s the same developer as Dolce Midtown so I wouldn’t be surprised if this takes 5 years to finish.

Seems to me like the start always takes a looooong time when subterranean levels are involved.  That said, your second sentence speaks volumes.  It may progress at a snail’s pace from start to finish.  We’ll know quickly once they Get above-ground.

[hindesky]

Above ground

[hindesky]

[hindesky]

[Thomas Ratliff]

Why has construction stopped? I walk by every morning and its been a ghost town for a week or two now.

[mattyt36]

1 hour ago, Thomas Ratliff said:

Why has construction stopped? I walk by every morning and its been a ghost town for a week or two now.

 

Uh oh considering they did Dolce.

[Thomas Ratliff]

So mattyt36, I don't understand.....Dolce? What happened?

[H-Town Man]

36 minutes ago, Thomas Ratliff said:

So mattyt36, I don't understand.....Dolce? What happened?

 

Dolce Living was a traveshamockery of a project, a 6 or so story residential midrise on West Gray with no ground floor retail that didn't look quite right architecturally (sort of like Regalia) but came along around 2014 when standards were a bit lower around here than they are now, got about 2/3 of the way built and then mysterious was halted with all the gypsum board up and left to rot where it now stands hulking over West Gray like a giant dead cow, breathing its vibes of failure over the area.

 

Edit: It actually has made some glacial progress over the past 3 years or so since Miss Havisham's clock struck 8:40 AM.

 

 

Edited May 29, 2019 by H-Town Man

[Thomas Ratliff]

Thank you for the disturbing news H-Town Man. This was an ugly abandoned insulation warehouse for years. When they first begin addressing the building they were doing things backward. I know someone lost  $tens of thousands before they even started demolition. It was like they were first attempting to renovate. Anyway, in my professional opinion, there are not enough columns to support a structure of that size.

Thanks again

 

[Thomas Ratliff]

This place has been a ghost town for over two weeks now. The crane hasn't moved an inch. No workers cars in the parking area. Silent and spooky.....

[hindesky]

I see zero progress, I wouldn't be surprised if both the Texas and Preston towers finish before this. Is this another Russian cluster duck?

[thatguysly]

Even the wood looks like it's weathered a lot

[CaptainJilliams]

Honestly, if this project ended up getting canceled I really wouldn't care. It's a shame that they already did the work of pouring the concrete and getting up to street level, but the dated design and lack of verticality would be much more disappointing in my mind.

[Naviguessor]

No, this isn't a sexy project.  But, it does a lot to make a large part of downtown inhabited.  Maybe it will be just the Point of the Spear.   This project is a good thing.  I am surprised something is happening here at all. 

[thatguysly]

It is great infill and as Naviguessor stated, it helps add downtown residents. Not to mention, it's way better than a surface lot. Is it the best, no. But it's is much better than what is in this part of downtown. I hope it gets back underway. I am sure it will. Just going to take 5-7 years to finish.

[j_cuevas713]

So what is the issue with this development? 

[thatguysly]

1 hour ago, j_cuevas713 said:

So what is the issue with this development? 

 

Same folks that took years to finish on West Gray. They have serious funding issues.

[Naviguessor]

And...she ugly.  But...important ugly. 

[RecoveryRadio]

As someone who lives at City View Lofts I am glad it will not be a high-rise! My view of the city is perfect. 

My question for you smart architect-types: the crane has rotated when storms with high winds have blown through. Is that normal? 

Also, I can report it has been weeks since anyone has been on the project. 

Edited July 8, 2019 by RecoveryRadio
Typo

[brijonmang]

8 minutes ago, RecoveryRadio said:

As someone who lives at City View Lofts I am glad it will not be a high-rise! My view of the city is perfect. 

My question for you smart architect-types: the crane has rotated when storms with high winds have blown through. Is that normal? 

Also, I can report it has been weeks since anyone has been on the project. 

Thanks for the update! As for the crane question, yes that is normal and is called weather-vaning.  It allows the stress that the wind puts on crane to pass by with a lot less resistance than if it were to be static.  Path of least resistance.

[thatguysly]

2 minutes ago, brijonmang said:

Thanks for the update! As for the crane question, yes that is normal and is called weather-vaning.  It allows the stress that the wind puts on crane to pass by with a lot less resistance than if it were to be static.  Path of least resistance.

 

I think that was why the crane in Dallas blew over a couple weeks ago. It was locked in place and unable to rotate when the high winds hit.

[Luminare]

16 minutes ago, RecoveryRadio said:

As someone who lives at City View Lofts I am glad it will not be a high-rise! My view of the city is perfect. 

My question for you smart architect-types: the crane has rotated when storms with high winds have blown through. Is that normal? 

Also, I can report it has been weeks since anyone has been on the project. 

 

This one seems to have had problems from the very beginning of construction. My guess (only a guess from inferring actions taken thus far) is that this is going through some kind of contractor issue. When you see a site go dead, that is usually the cause. I wouldn't be surprised if this stays dead for a little longer the client will just rebid and go forward with another contractor. You might get holdups like this for when there are changes to the design, but this is getting a bit ridiculous, so I'm assuming the former than the latter.

[lockmat]

Still dead? Yikes

[hindesky]

13 hours ago, lockmat said:

Still dead? Yikes

Yeah I went by this weekend on my ride but nothing has changed in a while so no point taking pics.

[Urbannizer]

I knew from the beginning this one would have issues. Dolce Living is the worst MF developer here.

[RecoveryRadio]

Hey gang! Awoke a few days ago to the sound of activity! Yay! However, it was just a crew putting up fence. No gate, and the site is now completely sealed up.

 

Michelle pointed out that there has not been security on site for over a month.

[Luminare]

13 hours ago, Urbannizer said:

I knew from the beginning this one would have issues. Dolce Living is the worst MF developer here.

 

Absolutely! They definitely aren't the sharpest knives in the drawer. They always seem to have contractor issues, and at this point its not just a one time thing, but a pattern. Now this is merely an allegation, as I definitely don't know whats going on, but I know from knowledge and a little experience that when contractor problems arise it often times is the case when a project isn't properly bidded and instead is given to a contractor that is a "friend" of the client who wants a project to be built. This almost always hurts a project because often times the "friend" that is hired isnt one that can actually do the job. Once again this is just an allegation and speculative at best, but with multiple failed projects or delayed projects this is an allegation that I'm feel confident in making. This is organization that needs to clean house and restructure their team that approaches these kinds of projects.

[bobruss]

And to think they tore down an old warehouse that someone could have turned into an interesting collection of shops, studios, offices, or restaurants so these people could 

screw around and maybe never finish. What a waste of some history and a lot that could have been very useful to the neighborhood.

I wish these people would just stop trying because their results suck.

[thatguysly]

Are they a public company? It almost seems like they getting these projects set up and started to show they have an active portfolio and then cut funding and let it sit. At least the one on West Gray is all but wrapped up.

[Nate99]

14 hours ago, Urbannizer said:

I knew from the beginning this one would have issues. Dolce Living is the worst MF developer here.

 

I just want to know who gives them cash to start these things. I can come up with way less wasteful uses for their money that involve Italian sports cars and nice vacations for me and only me. 

[C List]

2 hours ago, Nate99 said:

 

I just want to know who gives them cash to start these things. I can come up with way less wasteful uses for their money that involve Italian sports cars and nice vacations for me and only me. 

 

There is definitely something fishy with how they conduct business and it starts with funding. They crowdfund their equity using unrealistically high returns with no mention of a hold period, not to mention they have a senior note and a mezzanine note to pay off. Their team is incredibly small and it doesn't look like they have any dedicated team members that work in Houston, so no developer on site. This group screams incompetence and I would love to get my hands on their prospectus, no doubt there are some upset people that saw their money vanish (Dolce Midtown). 

 

https://www.luxecrowdfunding.com/regalia-at-the-park-2/

[Nate99]

11 minutes ago, C List said:

 

There is definitely something fishy with how they conduct business and it starts with funding. They crowdfund their equity using unrealistically high returns with no mention of a hold period, not to mention they have a senior note and a mezzanine note to pay off. Their team is incredibly small and it doesn't look like they have any dedicated team members that work in Houston, so no developer on site. This group screams incompetence and I would love to get my hands on their prospectus, no doubt there are some upset people that saw their money vanish (Dolce Midtown). 

 

https://www.luxecrowdfunding.com/regalia-at-the-park-2/

 

I'd apply a risk premium to that, but I'd have to divide by zero.   

 

Never would have guessed they could have drummed up enough for the crane rental going that route. 

[ArtNsf]

17 hours ago, Urbannizer said:

I knew from the beginning this one would have issues. Dolce Living is the worst MF developer here.

yikes, such language my goodness...

[Luminare]

1 hour ago, C List said:

 

There is definitely something fishy with how they conduct business and it starts with funding. They crowdfund their equity using unrealistically high returns with no mention of a hold period, not to mention they have a senior note and a mezzanine note to pay off. Their team is incredibly small and it doesn't look like they have any dedicated team members that work in Houston, so no developer on site. This group screams incompetence and I would love to get my hands on their prospectus, no doubt there are some upset people that saw their money vanish (Dolce Midtown). 

 

https://www.luxecrowdfunding.com/regalia-at-the-park-2/

 

For those who will hire an accountant to do these things in the future, and are a bit dumb when it comes to business things, but would also like to know a little bit about this stuff...what are we looking at here? What do you see here that reaches your conclusion? I really want to know because I have no clue what I'm looking at here. What is shady? Is this something that someone would bring them to court over?

 

Aren't these guys taking tax credits from the original downtown living initiative?

 

Maybe a little indepth but also in laymens terms.

Edited July 24, 2019 by Luminare

[kbates2]

The 32% IRR.

[Luminare]

1 hour ago, kbates2 said:

The 32% IRR.

 

But why? I really don't know what that is haha.

[kbates2]

Not too familiar with the industry averages but typically, if I see higher than 15%, it starts to raise questions.  32% is probably double what they can expect.

 

Internal rate of return btw.

Edited July 25, 2019 by kbates2

[Urbannizer]

6 hours ago, ArtNsf said:

yikes, such language my goodness...

 

MF-Multi-family 👻

[H-Town Man]

13 hours ago, Luminare said:

 

But why? I really don't know what that is haha.

 

It's the annual rate of increase between what an investor puts in and what he/she gets out at the end. So if someone invests a million for one year and expects a 32% IRR, they are projecting that they will get back $1,320,000 in a year. For comparison, people buy 30-year U.S. Treasuries at a 2.63% rate and mortgages are typically sold with around 4% interest, so why would anyone invest in those things if they thought they could make 32% annually on real estate? Most real estate investments are done expecting 7% to 12% return, this being higher than Treasuries or mortgages because the risk is higher.

 

Edited July 25, 2019 by H-Town Man

[Luminare]

8 minutes ago, H-Town Man said:

 

It's the annual rate of increase between what an investor puts in and what he/she gets out at the end. So if someone invests a million for one year and expects a 32% IRR, they are projecting that they will get back $1,320,000 in a year. For comparison, people buy 30-year U.S. Treasuries at a 2.63% rate and mortgages are typically sold with around 4% interest, so why would anyone invest in those things if they thought they could make 32% annually on real estate? Most real estate investments are done expecting 7% to 12% return, this being higher than Treasuries or mortgages because the risk is higher.

 

 

So they are either way in over their heads or something really fishy is going on. Yikes.

[Nate99]

21 minutes ago, Luminare said:

 

So they are either way in over their heads or something really fishy is going on. Yikes.

 

Agree with H-Town and others. It's not impossible, exactly, but anything that ever actually earned a 32% IRR had a gigantic speculative upside that no one could have predicted.  

 

I figured it was some other convention in the math that I am not familiar with, but it doesn't sound like it.  

[Vy65]

Luxe's President/CEO/Owner/Whatever is under a criminal indictment in Illinois for bank fraud. USA v. Krivoruchko, 1:19-cr-00080

I should add - that indictment relates to one of Luxe's condo projects in Chicago

Edited July 25, 2019 by Vy65