The Death of a Legend?

While this may not necessarily be super current or the most up to date news, in August I was incredibly dismayed to hear that my favorite live music venue, and one that is closely associated with live music in San Antonio, The White Rabbit, had been sold.  Many a night I have spent at San Antonio's finest music establishment, and after the closing of the Verizon Amphitheater on the outskirts of town, the White Rabbit became the only viable option in town for small/medium artists to perform at.  I personally have seen around 200 or more bands perform at the venue in my glory days as a teenager, boy did I think I was cool, but anyways this prime piece of San Antonio real estate is set to be purchased by successful restaurant owner and real estate developer Chad Carey.  Carey's intention is that the venue will remain open and continue booking shows.  The White Rabbit sits on 2.3 acres and also contains a pizza parlor, so this piece of real estate is a prime target for a mixed use development, even a small one, would generate cash flows given the location of the White Rabbit and the positive association of the venue's name to avid concert goers in San Antonio, such as I was in my teenage glory days (lol).
The importance of this piece of prime real estate to the San Antonio music scene cannot be overstated, as without a music venue of this size for artists to perform at, the only other option is to look for a larger venue, such as the AT&T Center, which no small/medium sized artist would ever be able to fill.
Overall this is important to real estate given the White Rabbit's potential as a mixed use development, although it would be a small one at best, and its importance as easily the most recognizable music venue in San Antonio.

The view from inside the White Rabbit, with the stage pictured at the front.

View from the courtyard area of the White Rabbit, with the concert venue to the left and the pizza parlor to the right, although neither are both entirely pictured.

 

View from the front of the venue.

Reshaping Downtown San Antonio

My hometown city of San Antonio, aka the Countdown City (210), has been undergoing rapid expansion and renovation, from the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center situated on the always lovely Riverwalk to HemisFair Park, downtown San Antonio has recently entered the news as a hotbed for real estate development.  In the northwest corner of downtown developers are renovating a historic century old department store for Geekdom, which is an 800 member communal workplace for tech professionals.  San Antonio has recently entered the news for its friendly tech environment, as the city also contains Rackspace, which is a cloud storage and computing company that is currently valued at $4.5 million, and as the city continues to grow it will in turn become a destination for technology related companies to locate.  Public infrastructure is also receiving an overhaul, with renovation/expansion to both the convention center and HemisFair park, with the ultimate goal bring to build playgrounds, housing, and cafes.  The goal of this development is to give downtown San Antonio a parklike atmosphere, which will of course turn the downtown area of the city into an even more inviting destination for tourists and native San Antonians alike.  The King William district of the city is also experiencing rapid increases in property values, roughly tripling in value over the past decade due to extensive renovation and a newfound interest in urban living.  However there is one caveat when it comes to San Antonio's booming real estate market, there is not necessarily much to buy, which has squeezed prices to all time highs, with future development planned for rental properties.  Interest in renovating and developing downtown San Antonio began to peak in 2002, when the defunct Pearl Brewery was purchased by Christopher Goldsbury, a San Antonio native, for $1.12 billion.  Ever since his purchase, Goldsboro has created a bustling neighborhood built upon, and surrounding the Pearl Brewery, where sprawling apartment buildings continue to be built as well as a diverse network of local artisans who call the area home.

Overall San Antonio is becoming a hub for real estate development, and the renovations that have been undertaken seek to make the city an even more beautiful and diverse place than it already is.

Go Spurs Go.

Find more on this story at: http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304017604579447124087595710.

An artist's rendition of downtown San Antonio.

Part of downtown San Antonio and the city's skyline as seen at night.

San Antonio's Riverwalk as seen at night.

Historic San Antonio Landmark Loses its Signature Lean

This particular post concerns a classic San Antonio landmark that is near and dear to my San Antonian heart, the classic Liberty Bar off of Saint Josephine Street close to downtown.  Now this particular landmark is significant due to this building having a significant lean, which may or not be up to code, but regardless its hard to miss, being one of the more distinct buildings one will see as they head into greater downtown San Antonio.

The building itself dates back to 1890, when it was constructed by a brewmaster at the old Pearl Brewery, Fritz Boehler, and has been the location of the one time Liberty Bar from 1985 - 2008, previously it had served as a boardinghouse, general store, tavern, saloon, and various other things.  The building took on its signature lean after a flood spread across San Antonio, in turn damaging the building, shifting it from its upright position into one that is slightly off kilter.   

Christened 'the Leaning Tower of San Antonio,' has recently been closed to ensure that the building doesn't collapse, and once the contractor assures the general populace that the building is no longer leaning, they will focus on getting a more solid foundation under one of San Antonio's most proud landmarks.

Back when the former Liberty Bar was Boehler's, named after the Brewmaster who constructed the iconic San Antonio landmark.

The Liberty Bar prior to its closing for renovations, it is expected to reopen as a restaurant in a few years after its foundation is deemed good for occupation.

Detroit Renaissance?

Hello travelers of the Internet and welcome back to my blog, this post concerns the relocation of one of Brooklyn's most storied performing arts venues, the Galapagos Art Space, and its relocation to Detroit, Michigan.

After the fallout from the default of the city of Detroit, Michigan, one performing arts center saw an opening from which to capitalize on.  The Galapagos Art Space, formerly of Brooklyn, New York, would have celebrated its twentieth anniversary anniversary in Brooklyn, however rising rent costs in the city have driven the venue to relocate to Detroit, where rental costs are drastically lower.
The Galapagos Art Space will also be able to benefit from their home in Detroit to the tune of 600,000 square feet, with plans for a 10,000 square foot lake at the center of the Space's new home.  The Galapagos Art Space has been able to benefit from a white hot real estate market resulting from the aftermath of the default of the city of Detroit, as well as a cultural landscape that is welcoming and nurturing of the arts.  The Space has been able to obtain all of the square footage in Detroit for about the cost of a small apartment in New York, where a lack expansion potential has severely limited the growth opportunities available, and the ones that manifest themselves come at an extraordinary cost.
Overall the Galapagos Art Space's relocation from Brooklyn to Detroit has proven a boon for both the Space, and also for the arts community in Detroit, where the Space will be able to have an immediate impact on the constantly changing cultural environment of the large city.

 The Galapagos Art Space's new home in Detroit, Michigan, prior to renovations.

The Space's old home in Brooklyn, New York.

Not Steve Jobs!

Welcome back readers of my blog (although I do not know why), but anyways welcome back to another post of Dalton Flint Talks Real Estate.  In this post I will be discussing everyone's favorite piece of Russian real estate.  Kremlin? No.  St. Basil's Cathedral? Close, but not quite.  The piece of real estate that I am referring to is none other than the now removed Steve Job's memorial that was recently removed from a Russian university campus in St. Petersburg.  The statue was removed following Apple CEO Tim Cook's coming out as gay, which clearly upset the Russians.  The monument, which was in the shape of an oversized iPhone, was placed on the campus in 2013 and remained there as a celebration in memorial of Steve Job's and his pioneering spirit.  While I do partake in Apple technology, I cannot say that I fall under the category of fanboy, anyways the Russians also blamed Apple and the company's links to NSA spying as grounds to remove the statue. This piece of real estate, although odd, had political ramifications across ultraconservative St. Petersburg, and some lawmakers even called for a travel ban on Tim Cook.  It is pretty weird to think that some of this shakeup in Russia was indeed caused by a mere piece of real estate, in this case a peculiar iPhone shaped statue.
I found this real estate related event interesting as it shows the impact has on world news and in our daily lives, and also how real estate has the ability to create incredible backlash that may be felt in other countries, such as in this case between Russia and the United States of America.

Here we have the monument, albeit peculiar, in the middle of a Russian college campus in St. Petersburg.

And here we have its subsequent removal.

The Pride of the San Antonio Skyline

Hello readers, and welcome back to Dalton Flint Talks Real Estate, in this post I will be discussing the Tower of the Americas, aka the most recognizable building set against the San Antonio skyline.  

Information was just made privy to me that this iconic tower almost was not constructed in the design that it has presently.  Early renderings of the Tower (pictured below) show the tower as something out of a George Orwell dystopian society, as designer O'Neil Ford had a different idea as to how the tower should look.  Standing at 750 feet, the Tower of the Americas was constructed from 1966-1968, when it opened just in time for the HemisFair festivities of 1968.  At the time of its opening the Tower was the tallest of its type until 1996, when the Las Vegas Stratosphere Tower was completed.

I found these renderings particularly interesting as being from San Antonio the Tower of the Americas is an integral part of San Antonian's life, as it is easily the most recognizable piece of real estate that is part of the San Antonio skyline (the Alamo is not).  

Renderings of the Tower of the Americas by Ford O'Neil

The Tower of the Americas as constructed

Real Estate/Property 101

Welcome back travelers of the Internet, 

Today I shall cover (attempt to) some kept aspects concerning real estate and clear up common misconceptions, such as what is the difference between real estate and real property? What are private restrictions on real estate? and finally if you have ever been dying to know what public restrictions on real estate are you're in luck because that will be covered as well!

And without further ado I shall open this blog with the difference between real estate and real property.

What is real estate you ask?

Well real estate is simply put a piece of land, and this definition also includes any fixtures or attachments made to said land.  This includes such items as trees, mineral rights, sidewalks, buildings, and any other fixtures/attachments that are reasonably affixed to the land.

Real property on the other hand includes real estate but adds to this definition a 'bundle of rights,' which includes rights to the property.  So to simplify real property, it can be more easily defined as real estate plus common law rights to the property, where real estate is just the land itself.

Presently there is an ongoing debate in Bannock County, Idaho to uphold the private property rights of both farmers and ranchers, and this issue is primarily concerned with the public access that said farmers/ranchers have been besting upon hunters, who frequent the area.  This issue is fundamentally concerned with easements, and how easements may be perceived as a very real way to subvert private property rights without compensation.  More info on this ongoing property rights battle may be found online at: http://www.capitalpress.com/Opinion/Editorials/20141208/bannock-county-must-uphold-private-property-rights.

What's that? You want to know what private restrictions on real estate are?  Well I have just the thing for you, student of real estate, and it just so happens to be an explanation on the topic!

A private restriction on real estate is imposed by a developer, homeowners' association, or any other private entity that is not the government.  Examples of these include easements, defeasible fees, and equitable servitudes.

An easement is a right to use of property by any person who is not the owner of the property for any number of reasons, while a defeasible fee is a grantor, or owner of the property, grants a grantee, or party who has been given right to use of the land by the grant, rights to the grantor's property, with certain conditions, or more easily put, a defeasible fee allows the grantor to reclaim sole possession of their property if the grantee breaks any of the conditions set forth by the grantor.  An equitable servitude is a land use restriction that is enforceable in an equity court of law, and are created in form by a covenant between two individuals, so these are similar to covenants, except now these are enforceable in a court of law.  

An example of a private restriction on real estate is the deed restriction that has recently been placed on Showboat Casino Hotel by Caesar's Entertainment, which has effectively restricted the hotel from becoming a casino again until after ten years have passed.  Caesar's Entertainment has placed a deed restriction, which falls under a private restriction on real estate, on Showboat in the hopes that a buyer can be found for the doomed casino.  

More on that story can be found at: http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/top_three/caesars-entertainment-places-deed-restriction-on-showboat/article_326ba4ac-7cd6-11e4-b7b0-3b4307a948bc.html.

Last but not least we have public restrictions on real estate.

These are similar to private restrictions unreal estate in all but one key facet, this being that these particular restrictions are placed by a governmental entity, and not by a private one.

An issue concerning this has to do with eminent domain, or the right of the government to claim privately held land in return for just compensation.  While just compensation may be a grey area, as most dealings with the government tend to be, presently there is an issue in Pennsylvania over whether or to developers have the right to ask local authorities for their right to eminent domain to claim land for utilities/development, which effectively subverts the need for just compensation, albeit initially.

More on this story can be found at: http://www.post-gazette.com/business/legal/2014/12/09/Business-Workshop-No-eminent-domain-for-private-benefit/stories/201412020001.

Until next time, I'm Dalton Flint and this has been Dalton Flint Talks Real Estate.