Am a little late to the party on the California Supreme Court’s recent decision to allow so-called inclusionary zoning, but think it’s important to comment on what I regard as a total travesty. First, some background: Five years ago, the City of San Jose passed a law requiring that 15% of units in new buildings of 20 … Continue reading “The CA Supreme Court just screwed up”
Category: Development
807 N Madison is DONE
Am thrilled to announce the completion of yet another apartment repositioning project, this one the 10 unit front structure at 807 N. Madison. This deal has an interesting back-story. I helped the owners buy the building way back in 2012, pretty early in the history of Adaptive. In many ways, it was a typical Adaptive … Continue reading “807 N Madison is DONE”
Some more thoughts about microunits
Bisnow has an interesting piece on the state of the art in microunits. For those who don’t know, “microunit” is the name given to super-small studios being developed in expensive coastal cities. The idea is to create a self-contained 220-350 sq ft apartment which, in theory, ought to be affordable for younger tenants who care … Continue reading “Some more thoughts about microunits”
A small problem with putting solar on your roof
There’s a slight problem with putting a solar system on your roof: You may be radically reducing the value of your property. Now, this doesn’t go for all homes. It’s specifically the case with home in cities where the zoning allows for denser development. So, for example, consider an old 800 sq ft single family home … Continue reading “A small problem with putting solar on your roof”
Comparing multifamily to office investing
And… we’re back. (I was at Princeton Reunions over the weekend and my flight didn’t get me back to LA until 3AM Monday morning.) Thought you might be interested in this article, which advocates that institutional investors consider allocating real estate investment dollars to multifamily instead of office. The argument should be familiar to regular … Continue reading “Comparing multifamily to office investing”
The replacement cost barrier
As we seek to deploy our current pool of capital at a time of generally high prices, we are running up against the issue of replacement cost. Here’s the problem: As a repositioner, you don’t really want to be in the position of spending more to buy and renovate a building than it would cost … Continue reading “The replacement cost barrier”
Another report from the front line of the zoning wars
Fund 3 investors know we’re in the process of adding a second story with two units to a duplex we bought a few months ago. This is a pretty straight-forward operation: There is plenty of room on the lot and the zoning allows for more than two additional units. This should be the kind of project … Continue reading “Another report from the front line of the zoning wars”
When is a re-pipe not just a re-pipe?
When you have a building with a “slab” (as opposed to a “raised”) foundation. With a raised foundation, there is a crawl-space under the bottom floor through which pipes run. This makes re-piping the building pretty easy. With a slab foundation, the building sits right on a thick concrete slab in which the original plumbing is … Continue reading “When is a re-pipe not just a re-pipe?”
Before and after pics of our new Highland Park project
Thought you guys would appreciate some before / after pics of our most recently-completed project, now in lease-up. If you know anyone looking for a great 1/1 or 3/1 in Highland Park, have them email franklin [at] adaptiverealty.com.
Score one for density
Today we learned that the mayor over-ruled his own planning commissioners to approve a high-rise building in K-Town. Here’s the money-quote from the LA Times explaining the opposition to the project: “Such a huge project would be ‘wildly inappropriate’ for the location, said Commissioner Maria Cabildo, an affordable housing developer. “I’m probably one of the biggest advocates … Continue reading “Score one for density”