Summer is almost upon us and already schedules are getting amended due to travels.
San Francisco house and condo prices are going off the charts. Condo prices alone were up 19% in the last year. Is SF ready for another fractional project? The Ritz Club sold out some years back, and that has been it. Current prices are more than $1,000 per square foot.
Any thoughts on inventory to convert? Mixed-use is just fine. My estimate is that we would need about 20 units.
At Seahorse Beach Club, Texas, our second home is in the final steps of gaining financing. We knocked down our #1 sale in our beach house so we are off and running. We will establish a fractional market in the greater Houston area soon.
The Beach Club membership campaign is about to launch. That should allow us to get financing for the Club, which is our major amenity.
Down in the Florida Keys, getting some $50 million of financing in place is a tough task. But our good partners, Peter Rosasco, Marvin Rappaport, Bill Meyer, Adam Greenberg and Michael Lapointe, are all up to the task. We are closing in on a couple of fine prospects and should know next week who will win out.
New Orleans continues to be a roller coaster. It is very interesting to me that if one does not know the development nuances of a city like New Orleans, they just don’t get it. All big cities have their quirks and politics. New Orleans has been there so darn long that it has quite a convoluted process to get anything accomplished. Add to that the French Quarter, and one has a very interesting development environment.
Or, to put it another way, when the development window opens, for whatever reason, one better jump through it quickly or lose out big time. Right now, it appears that the NOLA and French Quarter window is opening, and therein is the opportunity.
Had a delightful dinner last week with shared ownership pro and grand lawyer Art Spaulding. He’s moved up from Irvine to San Francisco along with wife Kit and the pooch. It’s good to have a kindred soul in town.
