As we begin sharing the great things the West End has to offer, we would like your help choosing and refining a logo. Please take our survey.
3 Comments
Great Things Happening 1. Whitewater Park Boulevard is Open and the Area is Officially the “West End”! The ribbon cutting for Whitewater Park Boulevard was held on October 24th, and the road is now officially open. With this event, the Mayor christened this area as the “West End,” which is bringing back its historical name from the early 1900’s. 2. Rezone and Extending the Parking Overlay. Notices have been sent and a neighborhood meeting is set for November 12th to discuss the possibility of rezoning a portion of the Main/Fairview corridor to C-5 zoning, as well as, extending the P-3 parking overlay to the commercial properties. 3. Artistic Map Complete and Website Reserved! At the ribbon cutting ceremony, lots of West End maps were distributed to numerous compliments of its quality and unique flare. This is the first step in building the identity of the area! In addition, our website can now be found at boisewestend.com. 4. Marketing and Branding Firm Hired…and The West End Logo Brainstorm has Started…Feedback Needed! A local branding and marketing firm, Rizen Creative, was recently hired to help us bring a special identity to the West End. Their first task is to help design a logo which fits the area and helps advance the identity. 5. The West End Headquarters has a Location! A lease is signed and moving in has begun! The new headquarters is a small office at 111 South 24th Street, and this location will help bring a presence to the area. In the coming weeks, look for neighborhood meetings at this spot. Things to be watching for 1. Final design of 27th Street getting close. Through some great collaboration with ACHD, the City, and CCDC, a final design for 27th Street is close. This street should be redone in 2014 to make pedestrians and bikers feel a little safer as they walk or ride to their destination. 2. Strategic property efforts. As excitement builds, there is likely some opportunities for positive things happen with existing buildings that may be underutilized or could re-purposed for uses than can bring life to the West End. 3. Connectivity planning. As zoning and parking efforts move full speed ahead, some great ideas are starting to take shape with connectivity in the West End. Look for these efforts to follow on the heels of our rezone efforts. Great Things Happening 1. Medical office building clears design review. Erstad Architects has designed the first project in the Master Plan area and it is located at the southwest corner of Whitewater Park Boulevard and Main Street. This building is 2 stories and ~21,000 square feet. 2. Property cleanup. With the help of Public Works and ESI, we are starting cleanup of City owned parcels on Fairview & Main. The road opens in less than 30 days, and hopefully we see further cleanup of trees, vacant buildings, and unused fences. 3. Coverage in Idaho Statesman and Idaho Business Review. With the recent hiring of the “30th Street Project Coordinator” and the opening of Whitewater Park Boulevard this month, many people are curious as to potential developments in the area. Both the Idaho Statesman and the Idaho Business Review had articles highlighting good things happening in the area during September. 4. Artistic map of The West End almost complete. Stephanie Inman completed the Cultural Arts Plan for The West End, and has been hired to complete an artistic map of the area. We are excited by the rough draft and envision a poster map that residents and businesses will hang on the wall to highlight the great things giving this area a unique identity! 5. Stakeholder Outreach. Much time in September was spent speaking with the various stakeholders in the area: business owners, property owners, agency representatives, Parks and Recreation, Boise City Ada County Housing Authority, etc. This outreach is vital in forming those teams and relationships that will make collaboration on great projects possible. Things to be watching for… 1. Zoning and parking review. This past month of work has entailed lots of study of the Master Plan, and we are working on possible zoning and parking regulations, as well as, transportation ideas that need to be addressed to help guide the type of development we want to promote. 2. Start branding efforts. Several branding proposals have been obtained, and we hope to hire a firm in the next couple weeks to start bringing a special identity to The West End! 3. Working towards identifying and completing smaller projects. With outreach to stakeholders, the desires of owners and tenants in this area are becoming clear. By putting these pieces together, hopefully we can start seeing projects in the coming months. We read lots of headlines on how our real estate market is doing great downtown, but being a numbers guy, I want to the know the facts! Our good friends at Thornton Oliver Keller and Colliers put out great market research reports, and I take particular interest in the bi-annual publications. Both 2013 mid-year reports came out in July, and I thought I would share some of the highlights I pulled from the reports. Interesting Downtown Facts
Now going forward, what do we see or can we predict anything? Here a couple things I foresee happening:
Urban infill development projects are never easy and are often controversial. On the other hand, they can be a great way to revitalize a tired property and bring more people closer to our urban core. As a strong believer in good urban infill, I wanted to share some before and after photos of a residential project just coming to completion near my home. This site is located on Hill Road, just west of 21st Street, and originally consisted of 1 house on a large lot. The original white house house was saved, remodeled, and a single car garage was added. The next step was adding two new homes. One home was added in the rear of the original house and one added in the front. Although I could describe the many steps that it took to make this great little project happen, I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves. Before Photos After Photos
The City of Boise wants to make sure things start happening in the 30th Street area, and they have hired me to help them out! Because of my commercial real estate focus in downtown Boise and a few other attributes, I will be helping to get things going. Have ideas, questions, comments, or anything else to do with the 30th Street area? Give me a shout!
Here's the email that went out to the Planning and Development Staff at the City of Boise from Derick O'Neill. We’re pleased to announce that we’ve engaged Jay Story as the new 30th Street Project Coordinator and will begin his responsibilities immediately. Jay has a Bachelor’s degree from Johns Hopkins University, a Master’s degree from Stanford University, and is the owner of Story Commercial, LLC. Through his work as a developer, commercial real estate broker and Planning & Zoning Commissioner, he is familiar with Boise City’s zoning code and will be a great asset to the 30th Street Project. He won’t have an office in City Hall, but you’ll see him here frequently. Jay will work collectively with the Capitol City Development Corporation (CCDC) through a joint Memorandum of Understanding between CCDC and the City of Boise which we hope to have approved in the next 30 days. Jay will coordinate the 30th Street Area Revitalization project for the City and CCDC, utilize the 30th Street Master Plan as the guiding document for implementation, be a member of the 30th Street Revitalization Project Team, and act as an advocate and public spokesperson as appropriate for the project. Jay will propose redevelopment projects for the 30th Street area and be an ombudsman for developers and other area stakeholders working with the City. His additional responsibilities are listed below. · Develop the Team: Coordinate the 30th Street Revitalization team and encourage the development envisioned in the 30th Street Area plan. · Market The Change: Identify key marketing messages and coordinate with a branding and marketing agency to present branding concepts and materials to 30th Street Revitalization Team, CCDC and the City of Boise. · Identify Catalysts: Identify key infrastructure, zoning and ordinance changes needed to spur revitalization in the 30th Street area. Identify and develop possible rehabilitation/revitalization projects and high probability catalyst projects. · Engage the Community: Establish the 30th Street Revitalization Team Headquarters. Interview individuals and focus groups made up of stakeholders, property owners and others to identify key issues and roadblocks associated with implementing the 30th Street Plan. · Deliver Results: Develop a realistic schedule for the project that is properly resourced and with appropriate benchmarks and deadlines. · Eliminate Roadblocks: Prioritize and communicate issues to the 30th Street Revitalization Team and key stakeholders/property owners that need resolution and develop strategies to address those issues. Do you ever wonder why leasing fees are paid at the front end of a lease? Do your clients ever ask to pay you the leasing fee over time? Good leasing efforts should be rewarded with good leasing fees, because it does offer the landlord a better investment...and better investments cost more money.
I am sharing this actual email (names removed) response to a client wanting to pay a portion of the leasing fee every year as long as the tenant remains in the space and paying rent. I think it applies to most every situation when the client wants to change the rules when the game is already finished (leases signed, money exchanged, keys handed over, etc.). Feel free to use this response as you see fit! Hello Mr. XXX, I appreciate your concern for paying a full leasing commission on a X year lease at the front end of a lease because neither of us know if the tenant will be around for the full term and live up to their obligations. Many people own commercial real estate as an investment, much like purchasing stock or bonds. We then hope our stock or bond price increases and/or gives us dividend payments. The stock brokers, be it someone with a fancy river front office or a discount online broker, don't offer guarantees on future stock/bond performance. If the investment you decide to purchase doesn't live up to expectations, that is part of the risk of investing and brokers don't refund fees based on poor performance. Signing a lease is much like purchasing any investment in that you hope the tenant will provide some predictable cash flow. Part of procuring that tenant and having that investment choice is the leasing fee, which should be factored into the investment decision. Having said that, longer leases offer the landlord some assurances and some security that the tenant will be around a little longer than a short term situation to pay the lease, but it does not guarantee it. A longer lease hopefully provides more predictable cash flow for a longer period of time, and it should help decrease vacancy and reduce re-tenanting cost. For this more stable investment, part of the extra cost is an increased leasing fee. I already dropped an invoice in the mailbox today to you, and I did send a Thank You card to the broker that brought us the tenant to your building. As for the leasing fee, I will be sending Y at Z his full fee by weeks end from my account, because I am appreciative of his efforts and he is expecting payment as agreed upon per the contract. If you feel you would like to pay different than as stated in the contract, I am happy to sit with you and discuss. I am available on Friday at 2PM if you would like. XXX, I appreciate doing business with you, and I hope you understand my thoughts and efforts. All the best, Jay Story, CCIM I was recently involved in a real estate transaction where my client paid me $20,000 to represent them on purchasing some real estate, and I then saved them $470,000 in acquisition cost!
Most buyers and tenants have a hard time paying for real estate services and sometimes think they can find themselves the best deal. Well, sometimes you get what you pay for. In a recent transaction, I was working with a client who wanted to acquire a piece of ground in a specific area to expand their business. I sat with them to learn their business and figure out exactly what they needed. They hired me to work on their behalf and paid for my services out of their own pocket. Now why is this important? With my client paying all my fees, I could focus solely on finding them the best deal. After turning over numerous "stones" and doing the due diligence on properties that I thought may work, we finally found a property to pursue. Due to the circumstances of the deal, we thought there may be some competition for the property, which my client really wanted. We quickly convened a board meeting, and the board of directors authorized us to make a very high offer price. While thinking about the deal and coming up with a plan, I was afraid my client may over pay for the property because they really wanted it. I then devised a plan whereby we could obtain the property for substantially lower than authorized by the board if I was confident in my strategy and a few things fell into place. Long story short, I saved them $470,000 on purchasing the property all because my client had the faith and forethought to hire a professional to look after their best interest. This morning I went to a great presentation at BSU by April Economides (Green Octopus Consulting) about how to improve bicycle friendly business districts. I think this fits nicely of with my survey a couple weeks about about the possibility of closing 8th Street to cars, where 55% of the respondents thought closing 8th Street to cars should be done and another 21% thought we should at least try it temporarily.
Right now is a good time to discuss these issues because ACHD and the City of Boise are going through their Downtown Boise Implementation Plan where they are contemplating 2 way streets, bike lanes, and a more pedestrian friendly downtown. This open house will be on June 6th, and if you're into downtown Boise, go and voice your thoughts. During April's presentation and discussion, she handed out a Bicycle Friendly Business Districts Ideas sheet, which has numerous great ideas (e.g. bike valets, more bike racks, bike shares, bike maps, better bike safety, etc.) on helping the bicycle community. I think we could implement many of these ideas for little to no cost and really improve our bike-ability. All in all, April showed many examples how bicycling is not only good for your health, but it's also good for the pocket book of the riders and the businesses they frequent. Because frequently commercial property is worth more when it is leased than when it is vacant! I have had numerous occasions when speaking to owners about selling their building, but they are reluctant to do so because the property is leased and is providing a nice income stream. Then inevitably, I get the phone call a year or two later, and they say, “I can’t believe it, but so and so vacated the building. Do you think you can sell it for the same price we were talking about two years ago?”
Unfortunately, there is a good chance that the property vacant is not worth anywhere close to what the property was worth when they had a good tenant in place. I have seen numerous buildings worth half as much vacant as when they were leased. There can be definite value to having a tenant(s) in place. I was recently discussing this phenomenon with a client who has a vacant building. He had a great, long term tenant in his building paying a great rent for a number of years. All of a sudden, their business model changed, and they didn’t need his building anymore so they moved out at the end of the lease. His building has now been vacant for more than 2 years while we have searched for another tenant or buyer for the property. Upon running the numbers from when the property was leased and what the property would have easily sold for, he realized he instantly lost at least $500,000 when the tenant decided not to renew the lease and vacate. Why is this? Well first off, commercial investment properties are great when they are leased because businesses don’t like to move and risk losing clients or customers. Because of this, and with the added expense of moving, many tenants may pay a little more than market just to stay put. On the flip side though, when the property does go vacant (and they ALL do at some point), it can be months or even years to find another business to fill that vacancy. Investors pay less for vacant properties because they have to price in anticipated vacancy (this can be very hard to determine!), holding cost (taxes, utilities, upkeep, etc.), leasing fees, and any potential tenant improvement costs associated with bringing in a new tenant. Adding these costs to a building that has no income drastically drives the value down. So if you think selling may be in your future, it may be to your advantage to investigate selling while your commercial property is leased and has a good tenant in place. If you wait until the property goes vacant, there is a good chance you may be disappointed with the market value of an empty building. |
AuthorJay Story Archives
September 2019
Categories
All
|