Friday, April 20, 2007
Had a nice, long phone chat yesterday with the owner of the East Austin building I mentioned. Her husband bought it decades ago, back when property in that area of town sold for next to nothing, and they used it over the years as an adjunct "gathering hall" for what I assume is a pretty sizable extended family. He passed away a few years back, and she's apparently been approached numerous times by interested buyers -- including a well-known local developer who shall remain nameless since a) his attempts to "butter her up" are as transparent as it gets and b) this being Austin, there are only two degrees of separation between us -- but she's held onto it because none of the parties displayed a real level of respect for the rich history behind its faded bricks and mortar. She seems to understand that my intentions are honorable, and that the last thing I'd ever do is tear the building down to put up cookie-cutter lofts or something, so she's open to an offer from me.
(No, I haven't named a figure yet. I need my architect (and possibly a civil engineer as well) to gauge how much work it needs first, plus my friend Nikki convinced me that I should get a professional appraisal on the place before making any formal offer on it. I also need to check out its title and lien history, just to make sure there aren't any claims on the widow's ownership of the place.)
(No, I haven't named a figure yet. I need my architect (and possibly a civil engineer as well) to gauge how much work it needs first, plus my friend Nikki convinced me that I should get a professional appraisal on the place before making any formal offer on it. I also need to check out its title and lien history, just to make sure there aren't any claims on the widow's ownership of the place.)
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
This past weekend I did some extensive walking around East Austin, checking out buildings and empty lots on its primary arteries (E. Cesar Chavez, E. Sixth and E. Seventh) that are targeted for mixed-use redevelopment. I found several places I really liked, and one in particular that I loved. A rational person would undoubtedly observe the fact that it's essentially just a brick shell at this point, as well as the wee issue of it being situated on a 6000 sq ft lot. A crazy person such as myself would retort that it's CS-zoned and you can have 95% impervious cover and up to four stories in height; that there are several vacant lots in the area that could be leased as secured parking; and it's in an area that's rapidly gentrifying, given its proximity to downtown.
I looked up the property's tax records, found the name and address of its owner, and wrote her an impassioned letter telling her how much I loved the building and how I'd like to revitalize it into a gem East Austin can be proud of. I mailed the letter yesterday afternoon; I just came home to a voice mail telling me she's interested in my proposition.
I looked up the property's tax records, found the name and address of its owner, and wrote her an impassioned letter telling her how much I loved the building and how I'd like to revitalize it into a gem East Austin can be proud of. I mailed the letter yesterday afternoon; I just came home to a voice mail telling me she's interested in my proposition.
Saturday, April 07, 2007
I'm back in Austin, which is at present experiencing one of the freakiest April weather phenomenons I've ever seen here. The normal highs this time of year are in the upper 70s. The previous record-low high temperature for April 7 was 60 degrees. Today's daytime high was 37, and parts of the area have seen snow. So much for global warming!
I've been busy with lots of hotel-related stuff this week, even aside from my Dallas trip. I had a long meeting with a potential architect for the project on Thursday and also one with a commercial real estate broker on Friday. The former went great, and I think I'm going to hire him for the job; the latter was more problematic. The broker doesn't seem to "get it" in terms of what I need, and she's already gotten excessively excited (during the course of a single afternoon) about three potential parcels of land that are just completely wrong for what I want to do. One is next door to the convention center and not even remotely in my price range; another is zoned General Office, which doesn't allow for hotel-motel use, and I specifically told her I have no interest in going through the bureaucratic hassle of requesting a zoning change outside of a designated FLUM (future land use map) mixed-use area; another is a vacant lot on Riverside Drive that may be the least-buildable lot in the entire city, since it's split right down the middle by the culmination of Bouldin Creek. The lot's only 80 feet wide, so you'd have to build right on top of the creek, which raises a whole mess of environmental concerns even outside of the fact that you'd have to build a structure basically on stilts (Bouldin Creek can flood quite badly during heavy rains). I think she's under the impression that she can talk me into something totally wrong simply by sheer force of will; that isn't going to be happening.
The architect, however, not only "gets it," he's already worked on an Austin hotel project that ended up falling through when the hoteliers (a well-known Mexican boutique chain) couldn't come to terms with the owner of the building they wanted to buy (which is in a prime spot near the Warehouse District but has been vacant for many years now). I haven't signed anything with him (or the broker) yet, but I'm pretty confident he's the right guy for the job.
I've been busy with lots of hotel-related stuff this week, even aside from my Dallas trip. I had a long meeting with a potential architect for the project on Thursday and also one with a commercial real estate broker on Friday. The former went great, and I think I'm going to hire him for the job; the latter was more problematic. The broker doesn't seem to "get it" in terms of what I need, and she's already gotten excessively excited (during the course of a single afternoon) about three potential parcels of land that are just completely wrong for what I want to do. One is next door to the convention center and not even remotely in my price range; another is zoned General Office, which doesn't allow for hotel-motel use, and I specifically told her I have no interest in going through the bureaucratic hassle of requesting a zoning change outside of a designated FLUM (future land use map) mixed-use area; another is a vacant lot on Riverside Drive that may be the least-buildable lot in the entire city, since it's split right down the middle by the culmination of Bouldin Creek. The lot's only 80 feet wide, so you'd have to build right on top of the creek, which raises a whole mess of environmental concerns even outside of the fact that you'd have to build a structure basically on stilts (Bouldin Creek can flood quite badly during heavy rains). I think she's under the impression that she can talk me into something totally wrong simply by sheer force of will; that isn't going to be happening.
The architect, however, not only "gets it," he's already worked on an Austin hotel project that ended up falling through when the hoteliers (a well-known Mexican boutique chain) couldn't come to terms with the owner of the building they wanted to buy (which is in a prime spot near the Warehouse District but has been vacant for many years now). I haven't signed anything with him (or the broker) yet, but I'm pretty confident he's the right guy for the job.
Sunday, April 01, 2007
Greetings from Dallas, and more specifically, greetings from the Palomar, a hotel that makes me both ecstatic and chagrined. I'm excited about the place because it's one of the most successful revamps of an existing hotel facility that I've ever seen, and I've seen a hell of a lot of hotels. I'll post some pics when I get back to Austin, but I love just about every aspect of the property's aesthetic, and it reaffirms my belief that even the drabbest buildings can be repurposed into something incredible. I'm saddened by the place only because I know Kimpton must be concocting something similarly wonderful for its in-the-works Hotel Van Zandt in Austin, and the idea of such a formidable competitor is a daunting one.
That said, the Palomar has some service-related problems. Although they gave me a downtown-view corner room upon request -- not bad considering I paid $100/night on Priceline for the normally-$250 room (and it's the only four-star hotel in Priceline's database in this area of town, so I knew I'd get it) -- the first room they gave me hadn't been fully serviced. The bed was made, but the bathroom still had dirty towels and open shampoo containers, and the housekeepers failed to clean the desk and minibar areas of debris (including the previous guest's airline boarding-pass stub - seems he flew to DFW last Monday on Continental). The second room they gave me was clean, but there was what appeared to be a portable room-service table sitting in the middle of it. I have no idea why it hadn't been removed. My late-night snack at the restaurant/bar downstairs was good, but the bartender was giving off some major attitude, and my food arrived before my drink did, which is never a good sign ... particularly when the bar's nearly empty. (Worse still, the bartender didn't comp the drink -- which, as it turned out, was $12 (and not indicated as such on the menu); I don't think I've seen a cocktail that pricey since I left Manhattan -- though she did apologize for its tardiness.)
I'm also not a fan of mandatory valet parking, as is required here (for $18/day). The developers built a new condo tower on the hotel's former garage site, so there aren't many spots to park; condo residents can park in the new tower's garage but hotel guests cannot, which is frankly a little silly given that the condo tower appears to be about 95% vacant, regardless of what its Web site claims. (It would seem that Dallas has a condo glut, much like Austin will in about two years.) Nitpicks aside, it's still an incredibly well-realized facility, and it's unfortunate that the new W opened around the same time period last year and stole all of its publicity thunder. (I still can't believe rooms at the W cost more than ones at the Mansion and Crescent Court! Both are indisputably better hotels, even if they're not as trendy.)
That said, the Palomar has some service-related problems. Although they gave me a downtown-view corner room upon request -- not bad considering I paid $100/night on Priceline for the normally-$250 room (and it's the only four-star hotel in Priceline's database in this area of town, so I knew I'd get it) -- the first room they gave me hadn't been fully serviced. The bed was made, but the bathroom still had dirty towels and open shampoo containers, and the housekeepers failed to clean the desk and minibar areas of debris (including the previous guest's airline boarding-pass stub - seems he flew to DFW last Monday on Continental). The second room they gave me was clean, but there was what appeared to be a portable room-service table sitting in the middle of it. I have no idea why it hadn't been removed. My late-night snack at the restaurant/bar downstairs was good, but the bartender was giving off some major attitude, and my food arrived before my drink did, which is never a good sign ... particularly when the bar's nearly empty. (Worse still, the bartender didn't comp the drink -- which, as it turned out, was $12 (and not indicated as such on the menu); I don't think I've seen a cocktail that pricey since I left Manhattan -- though she did apologize for its tardiness.)
I'm also not a fan of mandatory valet parking, as is required here (for $18/day). The developers built a new condo tower on the hotel's former garage site, so there aren't many spots to park; condo residents can park in the new tower's garage but hotel guests cannot, which is frankly a little silly given that the condo tower appears to be about 95% vacant, regardless of what its Web site claims. (It would seem that Dallas has a condo glut, much like Austin will in about two years.) Nitpicks aside, it's still an incredibly well-realized facility, and it's unfortunate that the new W opened around the same time period last year and stole all of its publicity thunder. (I still can't believe rooms at the W cost more than ones at the Mansion and Crescent Court! Both are indisputably better hotels, even if they're not as trendy.)