July 29, 2005
bad architecture in Beijing
An investigation of the not-so-subtle bad architecture in Beijing.
by 'Crazy' Jian Zhu
Update 2005 Aug 01: site hacked, look for archives.
Posted by omor at 03:23 PM | Comments (0)
July 01, 2005
Art of the New Urbanist Deal
New urbanism proposes new models for the urban design of
master-planned communi-ties and town centers. The financial
performance of three projects is examined in detail: Seaside, a
second-home resort in Florida; Lakelands, a master-planned community
in Gaithersburg, Maryland; and Haile Village Center, a mixed-use
residential, commercial, and retail center outside Gainesville,
Florida.
Seaside, which consists of 630 residential units, about 45,000 square
feet of retail, and about 18,000 square feet of commercial space, has
slowly developed into a financial success. The first lots sold in 1982
for $15,000; by 1992, the average price of new lots sold was $130,000
and by 2001 it was $690,000. The project has become a model for
several larger second-home village-type resorts in northwest Florida.
Lakelands, with 220 developable acres, has about 1,572 residential
units (houses as well as multi-family), the majority produced by
national homebuilders. The selling rate has been good: in the first
three years, the project sold about 400 units a year.
The land at Haile Village was originally bought for $2,500 per acre
and is today sell-ing for more than $300,000 per acre; the value of
the project at build-out is estimated to be about $500,000 per acre.
Due to lack of visibility, there has been some difficulty in
attracting a large variety of retail tenants.
Witold Rybczynski, "undated".
"The Art of the New Urbanist Deal"
Zell/Lurie Center Working Papers 429,
Wharton School Samuel Zell and Robert Lurie Real Estate Center,
University of Pennsylvania.
Wharton Real Eastate Review, Fall 2002.
Posted by omor at 02:29 PM | Comments (0)
May 24, 2005
Union City intermodal station
Union City, CA intermodal station will connect BART, Dumbarton Rail,
Capitol Corridor, and ACE Rail.
Posted by omor at 12:01 AM | Comments (0)
April 28, 2005
Urban Review STL
Excelent Urban Review STL architrectural review of Saint Louis, MO
housing and commercial real estate.
Posted by omor at 01:09 AM | Comments (0)
April 22, 2005
The High Cost of Free Parking
Free parking isn't really free. In fact, the average parking space
costs more than the average car. Initially, developers pay for the
required parking, but soon tenants do, and then their customers, and
so on, until the cost of parking has diffused throughout the economy.
When we shop, eat in a restaurant, or see a movie, we pay for parking
indirectly because its cost is included in the price of everything
from hamburgers to housing. The total subsidy for parking is
staggering, about the size of the Medicare or national defense
budgets. But free parking has other costs: It distorts transportation
choices, warps urban form, and degrades the environment.
It doesn't have to be this way. In The High Cost of Free Parking,
Donald Shoup proposes new ways for cities to regulate parking, namely,
charge fair market prices for curb parking, use the resulting revenue
to pay for services in the neighborhoods that generate it, and remove
zoning requirements for off-street parking. Such measures, according
to the Yale-trained economist and UCLA planning professor, will make
parking easier and driving less necessary.
The High Cost of Free Parking by Donald C. Shoup.
Posted by omor at 03:57 PM | Comments (0)
March 26, 2005
Torto Wheaton Research (TWR)
Torto Wheaton Research (TWR) studies commercial real estate.
Their Debt Risk Management has a nice list of features. See also
Portfolio strategy and misc research desk.
Related: Center for Real Estate.
Posted by omor at 07:02 PM | Comments (0)
November 12, 2004
New Partnews for New Urbanism
New Partnews for New Urbanism have a nice conference in Miami.
Posted by omor at 05:47 PM | Comments (0)
October 18, 2004
Architectural eyesores
Architectural eyesore of the month, selected by James Howard Kunstler.
Posted by omor at 09:24 PM | Comments (0)