The giant inflatable-boat-like structure shown here afloat in an otherwise-empty East Downtown six-pack superblock is the latest rendition of . . . the new Houston Dynamo soccer stadium! The Houston Chronicle’s Bernardo Fallas has details:
The Dynamo want to have the roughly $85 million, 22,000-seat stadium ready for opening day 2011. They envision an all-round two-level, all-seater venue with 34 suites, 86 concession point-of-sales, a 3,000 square-foot club level and a party deck on the southeast corner.
Loving that subtle “soccer fans on a life raft” imagery? It gets better: The open-air stadium’s playing surface will be a full story underground!
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Read more about: 77003, Attractions, Dynamo Stadium, East Downtown, Financing, Proposed Developments, TIRZs
April 22, 2009 – 10:55 am
A financial blogger going by the overused name of Tyler Durden points to some fishy behavior on the part of banks promoting a new stock offering by troubled Weingarten Realty. Writes the reader who alerted Swamplot to the story:
This may be a bit too finance-y for you, but apparently a recent Weingarten equity offering is being used to pay down debt to banks, which the author of this post (and me) find a bit suspicious. Further shenanigans? Analyst recommendations changing for the better just before the tender.
Is this too finance-y for Swamplot? Let’s find out!
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Read more about: Financing, REITs, Weingarten Realty
April 16, 2009 – 11:11 am
The reader who provided this “tip” wouldn’t or couldn’t tell us where the information came from, so there’s no particular reason to take it seriously. But it raises a few interesting questions about the future of the 8-acre property at W. Alabama and Dunlavy that’s apparently soon to be the former site of the Wilshire Village apartments.
. . . So here it is:
The buzz in the air over the demolition of Wilshire Village is Mr. Dilick plans to try to sell the property soon after the demolition, word is he hasn’t the funding to develop this tract.
Photo: Swamplot inbox
Read more about: 77098, Apartments, Demolitions, Financing, Flipping, Historic Preservation, Lancaster Place, Land Sales, Neighborhood Disputes, Real Estate Investing, Redevelopment, Wilshire Village
“The maximum conforming loan at an 80% LTV translates to a selling price of just over $520k. Given the current interest rate premium on jumbo mortgages, new-builds that are just a little over this amount are tending to languish on the market, whereas those in the sub-$500k range seem to still be selling briskly. If I were a developer planning on putting up some $600k+ houses, I might re-think my plans and target buyers who can take advantage of the current low rates for conforming loans.” [Angostura, commenting on Latest Greenwood King Report: On the Double!]
Read more about: Buying and Selling, Comments, Financing, Real Estate Marketing
Sure is nice for us Houston didn’t get caught up in that big price run-up housing markets in the rest of the country fell for! That’s why in Houston real estate is in much better shape than it is everywhere else, right?
Not according to a study released yesterday by First American CoreLogic. The research firm estimates that 18.3 percent of all mortgaged properties in the Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown region are in a “negative equity position,” and another 6.7 percent are within just 5 percentage points of being there. “Negative equity,” AKA “I’ve fallen down and I can’t get up,” means a mortgage holder owes more than the underlying property is worth.
In other words, 1 in every 4 Houston-area mortgages is already in deep doo-doo.
But hey, all it’ll take to recover is for prices to rise a little! And the rest of the country is doing much worse, right?
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Read more about: Financing, Hazards, Houston Data, Mortgages, Negative Equity, Price Trends
February 17, 2009 – 11:46 am
From the New York Times website this morning:
Shortly after 10 a.m. Central time, about 40 police officers and other law enforcement officials simultaneously entered Stanford Group’s two office buildings in Houston. Many of the law enforcement personnel carried large black briefcases. Stanford group’s headquarters are in two offices in Houston, one within a tower of the Houston Galleria shopping mall, and the other across the street.
Photo of Stanford Financial Group Offices, 5050 Westheimer: Stanford Financial Group
Read more about: Allen Stanford, Crime, Financing, Fraud, Galleria
February 2, 2009 – 12:17 pm
Buyers didn’t show up for the latest sale at the old JCPenney building next to West Oaks Mall. So Wachovia Bank will foreclose on the property soon, the CoStar Group reports.
The bankruptcy trustee for the collapsed financial empire of Edward H. Okun had listed the vacant building, which Okun’s 1031 Tax Group had bought for $4 million. But no buyers were willing to pay even the amount of the financing, which was $3 million.
The Houston JCPenney building and a mall in Salina, Kansas — also now facing foreclosure — are Okun’s last remaining properties.
Read more about: 1031 Exchanges, 77082, Alief, Commercial Real Estate, Edward H. Okun, Financing, Foreclosures
January 22, 2009 – 12:08 pm
The Austin-based owners of Westheimer’s Westcreek at River Oaks Apartments — just inside the Loop, just west of the giant new steel sculpture known as High Street — have refinanced the 574-unit complex with a $27.5 million, 7-year, floating-rate loan that allows prepayment with a penalty: “A flexible prepayment also means when market conditions warrant, the owner can redevelop the asset, which sits on 14.5 acres. ‘This is a well-maintained, but older property that sits on dirt, and the dirt is actually worth more than the apartments,’ [Matt] Greer [of Capmark Finance] explains. He says the asset’s owning partnership, which consists of local management company Kaplan Management Co. Inc. and an equity partner, will redevelop the property when market conditions come back.” [Globe St.]
Read more about: 77027, Apartments, Development Strategy, Financing, Highland Village, Redevelopment
January 16, 2009 – 10:48 am
So where are all the half-built homes? That question, asked by a Swamplot reader last week, prompted a slew of comments from other readers eager to identify pockets and neighborhoods in and around Houston where construction has come to a halt because of problems connected to the nationwide housing-market collapse. (As well as a few where construction stopped for reasons of a more local nature.)
Swamplot reader subprimelandguy suggested looking at Northwest Houston:
You need to go to the suburban areas, particularly the non master planned communities between the Beltway and Highway 6 / 1960. The most aggressive one is actually inside the Beltway near West Road and Gessner - a former Royce Homes (go figure) development called Westwood Gardens. It is a bombed out poster child for the subprime fiasco.
Then late yesterday, subprimelandguy sent in photos!
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Read more about: 77064, Abandoned Subdivisions, Cancellations and Delays, Financing, Homebuilders, Northwest Houston, Royce Builders, Westwood Gardens
January 9, 2009 – 4:59 pm
The developer of the Mosaic highrise overlooking Hermann Park — a limited partnership between Phillips Development & Realty and publicity-shy Florida Capital Real Estate Group — declared bankruptcy earlier this week to avoid foreclosure on a $71 million loan from Chicago lender Corus Bankshares. Florida Capital, originally the equity partner, will be taking over as the general partner.
The bankruptcy covers just the first Mosaic tower. The second tower, rebranded the Montage, has not yet defaulted on its separate $71 million Corus loan.
So how have sales been going at the Mosaic? It depends, the Houston Business Journal’s Jennifer Dawson learns, who you ask:
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Read more about: 77004, Apartments, Bankruptcies, Condos, Condos for Sale, Financing, Foreclosures, Hermann Park, Highrises, Homeowners' Associations, Mosaic and Montage, New Construction: Residential
January 7, 2009 – 5:43 pm
Read more about: 77004, Attractions, Financing, Museums
Comment of the Day: The Upper Limits of Inner Loop Rents
“The reason the inner loop is ’soft’ is simple math. A tiny apartment is now something like $1,200 per month. Meanwhile, my mortgage on my inner-loop house is just over $1,300.” [me, commenting on Where Rents Have Dropped]