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After some number crunching, my colleagues and I come to the conclusion that our Carroll property simply would not work for what we want to do. Even if we were to get the property at a large discount, the numbers didn’t seem to work. Frustrated with all options so far, we set out to attempt to find some viable option. Continually, we ran in to road blocks. The numbers just would not work in the areas we were looking in. My partners and I seemed to be getting more and more frustrated. We all realize that to find projects that will work involves a lot of time looking and knowledge of an area over a period of years. The issue is we don’t have much time and we would like to see our project succeed. We were all pulling our hair out, so we went to Dr.Forgey for some advice. Dr.Forgey discussed our issues and came to the conclusion that prices simply just don’t support a redevelopment project. So we have moved our attention away from a redevelopment and onto a new construction development. Dr. Forgey has supplied some sites that he feels would work and we are off and running again.

The site Dr.Forgey suggested was off Rosedale and May. It is two lots with great visibility on Rosedale. There is a for sale sign up and the asking price is $25 per square foot. Personally, I believe this price makes it very difficult to make the numbers work. The site is on the eastern side of the area and I am honestly not very thrilled with it. It seems to lack the business synergy we are looking for in this project. So we can walk to Church’s Chicken. Great(Sarcasm)! On further investigation I noticed that besides about three single family homes, the whole block seemed to be owned by two entities. It seems they are trying to accomplish a land assemblage. It would actually be a great spot for one and would do a lot for the area. The issue might be in that it is in a historical area and the three homes might be difficult to get torn down . Still, someone tore down all the other homes on the block and it looks funky with just those three homes on the site. Not really thrilled with the site and realizing that the numbers really don't work, we decide to proceed forward. It feels like we have already fallen pretty far behind and need to accomplish something.
I decided to get on loopnet again and try to come up with some better alternative. There had to be some property out there that was better suited for our development. As luck would have it, I stumbled upon a property off Lipscomb that perfectly meets our criteria, is cheaper, and is surrounded by numerous new developments. The property is two lots that are approximately 9,500 SF of land. NS-T4 is the zoning classification and the price is only $15 a square foot. I think beside the traffic visibility, this is actually a better site. The property is in walking distance to numerous medical office buildings and banks. It is also in walking distance to the First Friday on the Green site, which is a outdoor concert every first Friday in that area. As a tenant, it would be great to be able to just walk to this event. The only possible issue of the site is that there is an existing building which may pose a problem with the city. This was our only real issue with the site.
So, I discuss the property switch with the rest of my development team. We really don’t like the idea of changing properties this late in the ball game, but this new property seems to be the most favorable we have stumbled across. That being said, I still don’t expect the numbers to work. Everyone seems to be on board with the property and we FINALLY have our property.
Okay, so I make a phone call to the broker and discuss our idea for the property. We want to stick to Dr. Forgey’s less is more idea and go with five units , each with one thousand square feet. Making five thousand square feet combined. They will have economical construction and will have a loft feel. Retail will not work for this location because of the lack of traffic. It will be great for office and residential though. The broker says that the property will be great for such a development. I ask about the possible issue of demolition and he said the city would probably give me a medal for getting rid of the existing structure.



Someone's Home


Jason and I decide to take a look at the property and the surrounding area. Despite our switching to this property, we still have not physically seen it. When I drive up I see what the broker was talking about. The current structure is a P.O.S. and will never have anyone live in it again. Besides the homeless guy in back. So, there is two crappy convenience store buildings facing Rosedale and our property being behind the one on the west side of Lipscomb. Our property really is very well located and primed for a new development. On the other side of Rosedale within walking distance to numerous places and entertainment. http://www.fortworthsouth.org/FWS/arts-music-theater.html
On the north side of the property are some new developments that were interesting. There are two new development. Both are two stories and are approximately 8,000 Square Feet. They have a office tenant on the bottom and four residential loft style apartments on top. They seem to be a great comparable for our project. I call the real estate agent and ask about pricing. She lets me know that they are asking $1.25 a square foot and the bottom floor is owner occupied and did not have a rate for it. This office space would have been an awesome comparable for the project if I knew what it was.
The second building is still under construction so my partner and I decide to poke around and see if someone knows the cost per square foot of the construction. We end up find the supervisor with Fort Construction Bob. We ask Bob what it costs to build something like this. Bob is a great guy. He not only lets us know, but takes us in the building and shows us the plans. Bob then fills us in on issues he is having with the project engineers. Apparently the engineers actually put one of the A/C units in a closet. Not a A/C closet, but one that was actually supposed to be utilized by the tenant. Bob vented his frustration and gave a solution. Bob also informed us of the projects strategy and information on the surrounding properties. The properties are all owned by the Texas Pain Institute Doctor. He actually has a pretty good thing going. He owns a older building and slowly expanded into these two other newer buildings where he is the owner occupied tenant for the bottom floor. It’s great because he can get an SBA loan with favorable terms and a investment property as long as he occupies 50 percent of the property. WOW, a Doctor makes a solid real estate decision. I suspect they used the SBA loan. They may have paid cash, but these are the only loans that seem to be closing right now and bankers are all over them.
After our tour of the property with Bob, Jason and I decide to head to the city and find out what it would really take to get our project developed we. I have never been to the City of Fort worth even though I have lived here basically my whole life. We had an interesting experience finding the place after about an hour of looking. Finally we arrive. As I walk into the lobby the first thing I notice is a huge plant garden that seemed to be approximately 2,000 square feet. I think what a great big waste of space. I guess it made room more pleasant, but honestly I didn’t think it was the most attractive looking thing I ever saw either. Then I started thinking of the opportunity costs and maintenance of keeping such a thing. I calculated that the city was paying approximately $60,000 a year for the office space to house this thing and that is not including maintenance or other opportunity costs. Our tax dollars hard at work. Now, I do believe that we should provide pleasant work environments, but I think it must pass the cost benefit analysis test.
¬¬¬¬So, everything for the most part is really automated at the city. You can really find anything you need to know in brochures or online. I don’t really like doing that though. I find it much better to speak with someone at the city. You just seem to find out more and I always leave feeling more informed. My partner on the other hand believes in the automated system and doesn’t want to bother anyone or waste their time. I then inform him that is what they are paid to do and they really don’t care for the most part. The employee’s of the city are usually always very helpful and our looking to help you out, even if you are a graduate student doing a project. They really don’t seem to discriminate. We attempted to get a meeting with the plans department to see if we could get our project through. We were quickly shot down. Determined to have a conversation with someone on the viability of our project we looked elsewhere. We found a very nice lady in zoning that informed us on what we could and could not do with the property. We asked what the next step was and she insisted in a meeting that would include a representative from each of their departments to discuss all issues at once. At first I wanted to meet and discuss the project but then sided with my partner on this one. Our project still did not pass any financial feasibility analysis and we were about 99 percent sure we would be wasting everyone’s time. So we passed.