Articles for October 31st, 2008
Long Lines At The Polls
It took about 30 minutes just to get in the door on this the last day of early voting, election judges told me they had been swamped all week. Makes you kind of proud. The candidates were there to give us one last pitch, including one of my faves, Dan Branch. Could not resist asking the people around me what they thought of the election, and the man standing behind me in line said something very interesting: he thought he had made up his mind who he was going to vote for, until very recently. Then he started thinking: if Obama is going to raise our taxes, as he says he will, what are we going to get from it? I wouldn’t mind paying more in taxes, he said. if I knew we’d see definitive results — better schools, a higher level of education, something tangible. But all we’ve been given is generalities. Raise taxes for a better life. Try asking to increase your budget at work “to make the company” better and see how far it will get you.
I thought this was interesting and probably what a lot of people are mulling.
Are Dallas Mansions Still Selling Well?
Pining for the Bubble: Kind of interesting, looking at an article from just over a year ago. What happened to these homes and who sold them?
Terranova: Highland Park Village Style Scoots North
So what makes Houston developer Randall Davis think he can swoop in to Dallas, plop 42 high rise units in Preston Center priced around $400 per square foot and sell them?
His proven track record. Davis, says Allie Beth Allman’s Kyle Crews, has developed two successful condo projects with his partner for Terranova, Hines (as in Dallas Galleria), and is working on a luxury condo tower on South Padre Island. And let’s face it: given the current credit market, if you have any chance at all of obtaining financing, you’d better have a granite-solid track record.
Davis is also quick: the development team purchased the site from Chase Bank (Douglas at Weldon Howell) and will have a bank drive-through on one side of the lobby, which I told you all about in June. My concern: won’t residents have to worry about bank robbers? Davis’ response: no, that means there will be better security!
The building will be nine stories high, but still called a “high rise”. Mediterranean/Tuscan architecture and all this is standard: outdoor kitchens, private wine room, Viking, Sub Zero, Wolf, roll-out pantries, coffered ceilings, art niches, Origami Air bathtubs, Italian porcelains, marble, granite, 10-foot ceilings, guest pied-a-terre, and private elevator entries. Sizes will range from 1400 to 4400 square feet. And Davis says he already has five deposits!
Sebastian Construction Group Celebrates 60 Years
With a fabulous party last night at Arlington Hall at Lee Park, great food, wine and company. John, whose father started Sebastian Construction Group in 1948, is one of the city’s most high-profile builders. I’ll be posting photos of his work that were on display last night, including the Harlan Crow library. Top realtors in attendance: precious Irmgard Arthur with Allie Beth Allman, Briggs-Freeman’s Joan Eleazer who is listing French by Design design expert/author Betty Lou Phillip’s home because Betty Lou and husband John Roach are building new, and John Sebastian is their contractor. Also every great architect in town — Wilson Fuquay, Richard Drummond Davis, subs and cannot forget the folks who supply all the fixtures for Sebatian properties, Elegant Additions.
Halloween Lobster
Property value enhancement: a furry red lobster in the house!
Dallas, Houston, San Antonio Home Equity A-OK
So says Steve Brown today, citing the Center for Economic and Policy Research and the National Low Income Housing Coalition. I guess folks are concerned that if they buy homes, even cheaper homes, prices may fall after they sign on the dotted. Reminder: Real Estate is for the long term, not a three-month flip. The study says basically that Texans will have more home equity long term, and the worst is yet to come in areas that had huge bubbles, such as the so-called “sand belt”. See, Real Estate is such a local story… what do you think?
The Wedding
All these reports of a lavish, outlandish wedding last weekend rumored to have cost close to 9 million dollars. Well, tonight I got the goods on the house. Where they will be living post nuptials: Audubon Place. Aquarium in the master bedroom. Got a little digging to do, but this story is so on my radar… so stay tuned!
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