24Sep
WFAA has written an interesting article discussing optimism within the downtown condo/loft market. Certainly there is much to be optimistic about, but the prize may still lay several years down the road. Still there is some interesting information from Andy Taft who notes that downtown residences are on the market for only about two thirds of the time that a typical single family residence is. Which, in case you were wondering, is about 150 days for single family homes and 100 downtown. 150 and fifty days? That’s five months. I probably would have guessed somewhere in the 90 to 120 day range, but 150 sure is long.
Of course we all know that Le Bijou went down in flames, but the WFAA seems fairly certain that the T&P lofts were a success. T&P is supposed to be 95% sold, but this occupancy certainly comes after some tough times for the developer. T&P recently went through a fire sale to off-load a good portion of their units, which is great, unless you were one of those unlucky folks who paid the full $300/sq. ft. Also, I wonder about the Tower; it certainly created OK returns for initial investors but a lot of those units are either rentals or perpetually for sale. I won’t even go into Villa de Leon because I am just not sure that Fort Worth really needed a Hotel ZaZa-esque development.
Short version is that Fort Worth will one day have a thriving downtown residential environment, but it may have to be postponed for some time.
23Sep
Someone asked me the other day about “those nice condos on the East side of Downtown”. I instinctively knew which ones they were talking about (Le Bijou) and knew that they were pretty pricey. Never knowing much about them I thought their bottom unit price to be about $700k, but what I didn’t know was that they were on the verge of foreclosure.
There are only 14 units in this development, and it has been tough for the developer to make sales of them. While they are some of the most spacious residences available in downtown, they are also among the most expensive. I am not surprised that they are foreclosed on. I for one would hate to respond with “Le Bijou” everytime someone asked where I lived. It just seems like a pretty phony french accent to throw on in Fort Worth.
22Sep
Robert Bass and friends sold the Electric Building in downtown to a group called Atlas Properties.
Over the years I have heard a myriad of real estate folks talk of tentative plans for the Electric Building, but none of them ever really deliver. Not so of Atlas. I am sure that the group of investors will put some cash and elbow grease into the historic residential building, and view it as capable of delivering a nice ROI.
In my eyes the important thing here is that the building is staying in local hands. There are plenty of groups nationwide who are well funded and looking to capitalize on a down market. At least we can keep ownership local, for now.
18Sep
Tarrant County is on track to have about 20,000 foreclosures this year. We are averaging about 1500 a month so far.
Here’s an interesting site that will allow you to break down foreclosed and REO listing by City, County, or Zip. You can also switch it to a map viewer viewer that gives it some cool tangibility.
Thanks to Chuck for writing in, or I never would have looked this stuff up. And JJ, you brought up some good points about the percentages in your comment yesterday. I have to admit that I was a little perplexed by it, but I was drinking beer at Capital Bar when I read your comment.
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