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July 3rd, 2008
Red, white and kabluey
Fireworks displays are planned in Taos and over Eagle Nest Lake. Photo by Rick Romancito
Parades and fireworks planned all over Taos County
By Tempo staff
Wednesday, July 2, 2008 7:10 AM MDT
The uniquely American holiday of Independence Day might not be reveled so much these days as a celebration of the Colonies’ adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, which solidified separation from Great Britain. But it is still about patriotism, community and family. The holiday’s modern connection with fireworks, parades, carnivals, barbecues, picnics and baseball games is alive and well, and the Enchanted Circle is no exception.
In what has become a local tradition, the town of Taos and the Taos Volunteer Department will provide a free public display of $20,000 worth of fireworks from 9:15-10 p.m. high above the Taos Rodeo Grounds. The crackles and booms, and sparkling streams and bursts can be seen from many vantage points all over town.
Over in Angel Fire and Eagle Nest, the “Gateway to the Enchanted Circle,” an all-day celebration is planned starting with the Eagle Nest Volunteer Firemen’s Annual Barbecue and Ambulance Dessert Sale from 11 a.m. until 6 p.m. at the Senior Center, North Tomboy Drive, in Eagle Nest. At 1 p.m. expect people and floats to start lining up for the “Big Parade,” which commences at 2 p.m. down 3rd Street. Anyone can participate and no preregistration is required. Then, at dusk, approximately 9:30 p.m., the sky show billed as the “Highest Fireworks in New Mexico” will light up the night over Eagle Nest Lake. Trust us, the sight of colorful bursts over the lake is truly inspiring.
For more information about Angel Fire and Eagle Nest festivities, call (575) 377-2420 or (575) 377-2486.
Nearby in Red River, the mountain town with the Old West appeal, dozens of floats and human arms tossing candy will commemorate its 67th annual Fourth of July Parade, affectionately regarded as the “largest parade in Northern New Mexico.” The parade route runs along Main Street. It will begin at 10 a.m. and ends at noon.
Just down the road along NM 150 in Arroyo Seco, a community-wide facelift has been under way in anticipation of another highly attended and wildly colorful classic American parade. Starting at noon, Grand Marshal Abe García will usher in another installment of one of the most eccentric and incomparable parades in one of Northern New Mexico’s most quaint of communities. Because it has been growing so much over the years, that claim by Red River may get some competition.
There will be open parking for the Arroyo Seco parade behind Holy Trinity Parish. Food, drink and souvenirs will be available. And, as always, please don’t drink and drive.
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July 3rd, 2008
Sent on Behalf of the Town of Taos
2008-09 Marketing Budget as of July 1, 2008
The Town of Taos Mayor/Council has made good on their commitment to increase this fiscal year’s direct marketing budget, even though Town gross receipts are still flat through May, and department directors have cut all other Town budgets by 11 percent.
Currently, the commitment that was approved by the Mayor/Council at their June 24, 2008 Final Budget Meeting, is for marketing funds that total approximately $430,000.00.
$224,000 of that total can be actively funded right now – and has been. The funds currently exist to be spent, and Griffin & Associates, the Town’s marketing contractor, is fine tuning their program for these funds, which include an aggressive free media program and other leveraged promotion of Taos in addition to a direct paid advertising program. Some of these funds are already roughly tagged to programs and marketing assignments (film oriented promotion, Taos’ Mother’s Day concert, Taos Plaza Live, media clip service, Taos Fiestas, etc.), but Griffin will be working with the Town to improve how they’re spent and the consistency and effectiveness of the marketing message and design.
The balance of the total budget, approximately $206,000, is a priority for funding, according to the Town of Taos Mayor/Council, but the Town’s Finance Department indicates that the actual revenues are still forthcoming. Commitments for contractually spending these funds cannot be completed until they materialize through gross receipts and lodgers tax revenues – hopefully later this calendar year.
Normally, there is a 30-90 day lag time between tax revenues accruing (being paid by Town merchants), and the Town receiving them. So, sometime in September or October of 2008 it is hoped that these added monies will have been collected from this summer’s June through August activity. At that time, Mayor/Council’s intent is to complete their funding of the full marketing budget. This funding may be assisted by a grant the Town applied for, along with their Taos marketing partners, from the State of New Mexico.
July 24 at 6:30 p.m., Town of Taos Council Chambers, Griffin & Associates jgriffin@griffinassoc.com is sponsoring one of their regular community briefing meetings about the marketing effort for Taos, and this will include discussion of this fiscal year’s budget and direction. All members of the Taos community are welcome to attend and constructively share their ideas, views and input. Past reports about activity can be found on the Town of Taos web site, www.taosgov.com (click on upper right hand ‘Community’ button and scroll down for Marketing Information). Griffin has been on board, completing marketing activity, since October, 2007, when their contract with the Town was signed and funded.
This direct marketing budget is in addition to funds that last year were used for Taos marketing by local nonprofits and others applying for and receiving Town funds for advertising through a Request for Proposal process. Last year – and this year — $120,000 was set aside for this proposal process which allows area entities to apply for awards from three categories: economic development, community development, and programs that help to reduce youth violence. Last year Taos Solar Fest, among others, received an award out of this process that was used to promote Taos and bring tourists here. Interested members of the public should contact Tina Torres, Town of Taos Finance Department, to be placed on a list to be notified of these RFPs, ttorres@taosgov.com or call 751-2025.
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July 2nd, 2008
Sent on Behalf of the Town of Taos
2008-09 Marketing Budget as of July 1, 2008
The Town of Taos Mayor/Council has made good on their commitment to increase this fiscal year’s direct marketing budget, even though Town gross receipts are still flat through May, and department directors have cut all other Town budgets by 11 percent.
Currently, the commitment that was approved by the Mayor/Council at their June 24, 2008 Final Budget Meeting, is for marketing funds that total approximately $430,000.00.
$224,000 of that total can be actively funded right now – and has been. The funds currently exist to be spent, and Griffin & Associates, the Town’s marketing contractor, is fine tuning their program for these funds, which include an aggressive free media program and other leveraged promotion of Taos in addition to a direct paid advertising program. Some of these funds are already roughly tagged to programs and marketing assignments (film oriented promotion, Taos’ Mother’s Day concert, Taos Plaza Live, media clip service, Taos Fiestas, etc.), but Griffin will be working with the Town to improve how they’re spent and the consistency and effectiveness of the marketing message and design.
The balance of the total budget, approximately $206,000, is a priority for funding, according to the Town of Taos Mayor/Council, but the Town’s Finance Department indicates that the actual revenues are still forthcoming. Commitments for contractually spending these funds cannot be completed until they materialize through gross receipts and lodgers tax revenues – hopefully later this calendar year.
Normally, there is a 30-90 day lag time between tax revenues accruing (being paid by Town merchants), and the Town receiving them. So, sometime in September or October of 2008 it is hoped that these added monies will have been collected from this summer’s June through August activity. At that time, Mayor/Council’s intent is to complete their funding of the full marketing budget. This funding may be assisted by a grant the Town applied for, along with their Taos marketing partners, from the State of New Mexico.
July 24 at 6:30 p.m., Town of Taos Council Chambers, Griffin & Associates jgriffin@griffinassoc.com is sponsoring one of their regular community briefing meetings about the marketing effort for Taos, and this will include discussion of this fiscal year’s budget and direction. All members of the Taos community are welcome to attend and constructively share their ideas, views and input. Past reports about activity can be found on the Town of Taos web site, www.taosgov.com (click on upper right hand ‘Community’ button and scroll down for Marketing Information). Griffin has been on board, completing marketing activity, since October, 2007, when their contract with the Town was signed and funded.
This direct marketing budget is in addition to funds that last year were used for Taos marketing by local nonprofits and others applying for and receiving Town funds for advertising through a Request for Proposal process. Last year – and this year — $120,000 was set aside for this proposal process which allows area entities to apply for awards from three categories: economic development, community development, and programs that help to reduce youth violence. Last year Taos Solar Fest, among others, received an award out of this process that was used to promote Taos and bring tourists here. Interested members of the public should contact Tina Torres, Town of Taos Finance Department, to be placed on a list to be notified of these RFPs, ttorres@taosgov.com or call 751-2025.
Cathy Connelly, Public Relations Coordinator
Town of Taos
400 Camino de la Placita
Taos, NM 87571
http://www.taosgov.com
cconnelly@taosgov.com
505-751-2001 office
Fax 575-751-2026
505-779-1013 cell
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July 2nd, 2008
After snowing well into June, Summer has finally arrived at Taos Ski Valley. The Summer Charlift is currently operating from 10am to 4:30pm Thursday through Monday till Labor day and then weekends until the end of September. Bring your pass and ride the lift for free. Non-pass-holders (or forgetful pass-holders) pay $10 for adults and $6 kids. Tickets, information and hiking trail maps are available at the Taos Ski and Boot Company which is open everyday from 9am-5pm.
The Disc Golf course is up and going as are the Volleyball court and horseshoe pits at the base of lift one. There are all sorts of festivals and entertainment happening at TSV this summer, go to skitaos.org for a current events calendar. So, if you need to escape the traffic and heat wherever you are, come see us, it is cooler up here.
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July 2nd, 2008
This Town of Taos News Brief sent on behalf of the Town of Taos
1) Town of Taos revenue update*: These are actual revenues that reflect activity through May 2008 in the Town of Taos –
Gross Receipts (GRT): 2008 year-to-date actual revenues over last year actual revenues for same period, down .64%.
Lodgers Tax Receipts: 2008 year-to-date actual revenues over last year actual revenues for same period, up 6.76%
Lodgers Tax isolated revenues for one month only, May 2008 over May 2007, were up 2.86%.
*These revenue numbers are one of the core means by which the Town can accurately track visitor stay/spending trends, although other types of gross receipts taxes also contribute to these revenues (GRT paid on development projects, property taxes, local purchases, etc.). A report was distributed by this office in April, 2008, providing background perspectives on revenues over the last decade, and some basic information about them today. Need a copy? Just email this office. Updates about these revenues will continue to be issued from this office as they are available.
2) July 2008 Town of Taos currently scheduled meetings:
Time correction: Town of Taos Planning & Zoning Commission meeting this Wednesday, tomorrow, 5:30 p.m., July 2, Town of Taos Council Chambers, Civic Plaza Dr.
Town offices closed this Friday, July 4th
Taos Regional Landfill Meeting, 8:30 a.m., Wed., July 9th, Quail Ridge Inn
Intergovernmental Council of the Enchanted Circle (IGC), 10:30 a.m., Wed., July 9th, Quail Ridge Inn
Regular Town of Taos Council Meeting, 6:30 p.m., Tues., July 15, Town Council Chambers, Civic Plaza Dr. (items must be on this agenda by July 10)
Town offices closed 1-5 p.m., Friday, July 18th for ‘Taos Day’; Taos Fiestas July 18-20
Joint Town/County Meeting, 9 a.m., Wed., July 23, Town Council Chambers
Randy VanVleck, General Counsel, NM Municipal League — in-service review/training for Mayor, Council and interested staff concerning ‘best practices’ for effective meeting management, elected official/public/staff interaction, etc., 1:30 – 3:30 p.m., Wed., July 23, Town Hall Conference Room
Town meetings for August already scheduled:
Management Team Meeting/Agenda Meeting, 1:30 p.m., Wed., August 6
NM Municipal League Annual Conference, August 13-14, Clovis, NM
Regular Town of Taos Council Meeting, 6:30 p.m., Tues., August 19, Town Council Chambers, Civic Plaza Dr.
3) Town Drinking Water — Consumer Confidence Report: The Town of Taos has completed the annual Consumer Confidence Report for 2007 as required by the State of New Mexico, Drinking Water Bureau. This report includes all pertinent Water Quality Data for the Town of Taos well system for 2007. The information is available on the Town of Taos web site, http://www.taosgov.com. Copies of this report are also available from the Town’s Utility Billing Office, located within Town Hall, 400 Camino de la Placita, or at the Public Utilities Office, 1030 Dea Lane (near Walmart; Public Works’ Office also). Questions? Contact Amos Torres, Public Utilities Director, atorres@taosgov.com, or Thomas Medina, Public Utilities Superintendent, at 575-751-2047.
4) Town of Taos Fourth of July — The Town of Taos and the Taos Volunteer Fire Dept. will again sponsor their professional fireworks extravaganza, 9:15 – 10 p.m., July 4th over the Taos Rodeo Grounds. NOTE: Parking will not be allowed on Salazar between Bertha and the District Attorney’s Office during the fireworks display, given that this is a safety zone/emergency response route. This $20,000 free public display can be viewed from many outdoor locations throughout Taos. Personal fireworks are on sale now through July 7. Taos Volunteer Fire Dept. inspects/monitors what is sold within the Town to make sure products comply with local/state ordinances – and help ensure safety. Be careful. Always have adult supervision. Keep a water source handy.
5) Second notice: Griffin & Assoc. Taos Marketing Meeting: 6:30 p.m., Thurs., July 24, Town of Taos Council Chambers, Civic Plaza Dr. All are invited to be briefed on the marketing effort to date, and to provide input and ideas moving forward. Free. Contact: Joan Griffin 575-261-4444 or Jgriffin@griffinassoc.com.
6) Second notice: Town of Taos Planning and Zoning Commission – Want to Serve?
The Mayor and Taos Town Council have announced there are vacancies on the Planning and Zoning Commission. Anyone wanting to volunteer to serve on this Commission is being asked to submit a letter of intent and interest with a brief summary of experience and education related to the discipline of Land Use planning and regulation. The term of service is for one year with monthly meetings on the first Wednesday of each month at 5:30 pm. At each meeting the Commission is required to act upon applications subject to the Town of Taos Land Use Dev Code Ordinance 99-5. Training and Staff resource assistance is provided by the P&Z Department. Inquiries and/or letters of intent regarding this announcement may be directed to the Office of the Mayor Bobby F. Duran, the Town Clerk Renee Lucero, RLucero@taosgov.com, the Interim Town Manager Abigail Adame, or to the Planning Director Allen Vigil, AVigil2@taosgov.com. Mailing Address: Town Hall, 400 Camino de la Placita, Taos NM 87571, 575-751-2000, http://www.taosgov.com/planning
Cathy Connelly, Public Relations Coordinator
Town of Taos
400 Camino de la Placita
Taos, NM 87571
http://www.taosgov.com
cconnelly@taosgov.com
505-751-2001 office
Fax 575-751-2026
505-779-1013 cell
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July 1st, 2008
Luring Affluent Renters in Manhattan
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By VIVIAN S. TOY
Published: June 29, 2008
ONE month’s free rent. Two months’ free rent. No security deposit.
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Tony Cenicola/The New York Times
Photographs by Andrea Mohin/The New York Times
WHAT YOU CAN GET Many buildings in Manhattan are offering free rent. Other perks landlords are paying for include, from top, at 188 Ludlow on the Lower East Side, the broker’s fee, moving expenses and a year of free storage; at the Archstone Clinton in Clinton, a three-month gym membership; at Dwell in the financial district, the broker’s fee; and at 20 Exchange Place in the financial district, the broker’s fee (and forgoing the security deposit).
How about a year’s worth of storage at Manhattan Mini Storage or an appointment at a doggie day spa for Rover on moving day?
As the rental market in Manhattan has softened in recent months, these are some of the incentives that owners of high-end buildings are offering to lure tenants. The more elaborate enticements tend to be in new buildings that landlords are trying to fill as quickly as possible, but even owners of some established buildings are offering incentives to avoid having apartments go vacant.
“We definitely have seen a shift in the dynamic of the marketplace,” said David J. Wine, a vice chairman at the Related Companies, which owns and manages about 5,000 rental units in New York City. “The frenzy of a year or two ago has abated, and we’re seeing renters be a lot more thoughtful in their rental decisions.”
Landlords have adjusted accordingly.
“A lot of landlords were getting ready to increase rents for the busy season, but they’re finding that those projected rents aren’t attainable,” said Daniel Baum, the chief operating officer at the Real Estate Group New York, a Manhattan brokerage. “No one anticipated having problems on the rental side, and it’s definitely forcing property owners to take a second look at marketing and to rethink their pricing.”
Market-rate rents have continued to rise, but the rate of growth is nowhere near the double-digit increases that landlords got in recent years. Brokers and building owners say that the troubled financial markets and layoffs on Wall Street probably led to the slow start of the rental season in April. Volume had increased by late May, but professionals in leasing offices say that the incentives being offered in the prime summer rental season are a clear sign of a weaker rental market. (Rents in the city’s one million rent-stabilized apartments, regulated by government and not the market, this year will be allowed to increase by up to 4.5 percent on one-year leases and 8.5 percent on two-year leases.)
Market-rate rental buildings offering incentives tend to be clustered in specific neighborhoods, including the financial district, Harlem, Washington Heights and areas in the far eastern or western edges of Manhattan.
“If a neighborhood is far from the subway or if there is some kind of negative, then that’s where the owners are going to want to do something to make it more attractive to renters,” said Gary Malin, the president of Citi Habitats.
At 20 Exchange Place, a 57-story bank building in the financial district that is being converted into rental apartments, the owner is offering to pay brokers’ fees, giving one month’s free rent and agreeing to forgo a security deposit. The building is also offering the free day at the downtown pet emporium, the Salty Paw, to help make moving day as stress free as possible for pets and their owners. Tenants began moving in earlier this month.
Jack Berman, a vice president at Metro Loft Management, the building’s owner, developer and manager, said the incentives seemed like a good tactic. “The market’s a little bit softer than it was this time last year,” he said, “and we wanted to hit the ground running. There are other competing buildings as well, and we have to play along.”
For Mackenzie Rosenthal, who will be a senior at New York University next year and who will be moving into a one-bedroom at 20 Exchange Place this summer, “the perks were just kind of too good to pass up.” She said she and her father had “pored over the lease, saying: ‘Where’s the catch?’ but as far as we can tell, there doesn’t seem to be one.”
When she and a roommate moved into her current two-bedroom walk-up in the East Village, they had to come up with $12,000 to cover the broker’s fee, security deposit and first and last month’s rent. “That was just ludicrous,” she said. “But when I move into my new apartment, all I need is the first month’s rent.”
Ms. Rosenthal said that after factoring in the free month’s rent, her $3,000 apartment will cost her $2,750 a month. She worries that she will not be able to afford to stay in the apartment when her one-year lease is up, but her broker, Jeffrey Carlson of Platinum Properties, said that as an original tenant, she might be able to negotiate the same rate at renewal time.
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July 1st, 2008
Market Place
At Midyear, the Economic Pain Persists
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By VIKAS BAJAJ
Published: July 1, 2008
Many policy makers and bankers said this credit mess was contained.
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Justin Lane/European Pressphoto Agency
Crude oil prices are up about 51 percent this year, settling at $140 a barrel Monday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, above, down 21 cents from Friday.
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Graphic
Standard & Poor’s 500-Stock Index, Weekly Closes Boy, were they wrong. More than a year after the crisis first flared, the financial industry, and with it the broader economy, seems to be caught in a vicious circle.
As home prices sink, people are falling behind on their mortgages in growing numbers. As more homeowners run into trouble, banks must write off even more loans. And as the bad loans mount, financial companies are increasingly unable or unwilling to extend credit, making it even harder to buy homes or expand businesses.
This process is playing out painfully on Wall Street, where on Monday the stock market rounded out its worst 12-month run since the spring of 2003, when the United States invaded Iraq and the market was beginning a tenuous recovery from the bursting of the technology bubble.
The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index is down 12.8 percent for the first half of the year. The index just had its worst June (down 8.6 percent) since 1930 (down 16.5 percent).
The Dow Jones industrial average is off 14.4 percent for the first half of the year. Financial shares keep falling. Even as the broader market posted a small gain on Monday, shares of banks and brokerage firms in the S.& P. 500 fell 2.1 percent, to a five-year low.
Lehman Brothers, which has been struggling to persuade investors that it can survive as an independent firm, fell 11 percent Monday, bringing its loss for the year to nearly 70 percent.
“Eventually, the financial sector’s troubles will be communicated to the rest of the economy,” said Douglas M. Peta, market strategist at J.& W. Seligman and Company in New York. “As there is less investment available that restrains consumer spending, it restrains corporate spending.”
One measure already signals that the woes of the financial system are straining the economy. In the last 13 weeks, total bank loans, leases and securities holdings have fallen at an annual rate of 9.1 percent, its fastest decline since 1973, when the data was first collected, according to Jan Hatzius, chief domestic economist at Goldman Sachs.
Even as the Federal Reserve and the government have tried to reinvigorate the economy with lower short-term interest rates and tax rebates, rates on mortgages and corporate loans have climbed to their highest levels this year. The average interest rate on a 30-year fixed rate home loan was 6.45 percent last week, up from 6 percent at the start of the year. Investment-grade corporate bonds are yielding 6.2 percent, up from 5.7 percent at the start of the year.
Until recently, “we haven’t had the sense that we had the downward spiral in anything other than housing,” said Jane Caron, chief economic strategist at Dwight Asset Management, a bond-trading firm based in Burlington, Vt. “What I am worried about is that we are headed in a direction where those negative feedback loops expand and intensify.”
That cycle will not be broken, Ms. Caron and other analysts say, until the decline in home prices slows significantly or ends, allowing the market to tally the full cost of the recent credit binge and restoring confidence among bankers and investors.
Some analysts see tentative signs that the fall in housing may be ebbing. Sales of existing homes have flattened in recent months and home prices fell a little less in April than they did in March on a month-over-month basis. But both trends could easily reverse, as they have after previous upswings.
“We could reach a bottom in housing at the end of this year and have some growth in the second half of 2009,” Ms. Caron said, “but that requires the economic backdrop to remain no worse than it currently is.”
Another strain on the economy and markets is the rapidly rising prices for energy, food and other commodities. Crude oil prices are up about 51 percent this year and corn prices are up 55 percent.
That surge in raw materials is one reason that fast-growing markets like China and India — which are increasingly dependent on energy imports — have taken a beating in recent months. The Shanghai stock market is down 48 percent for the year, and the Nifty index in India is down 34 percent. By contrast, markets in Russia and Brazil, which are big exporters of commodities, are essentially flat for the year.
“The emerging markets are associated with higher commodity prices, but not all emerging markets are beneficiaries,” said Simon Hallett, chief investment officer of Harding Loevner Management, an investment firm based in Somerville, N.J. “Russia and Brazil are commodity producers, but China and India are commodity consumers.”
For the American markets, the rise in prices is certainly important, but spending on energy and food makes up a relatively small part of the average family’s income.
Much more important, analysts say, is the ability to borrow money to buy homes and expand businesses.
In addition to paying higher interest rates, borrowers are also dealing with more restrictive lending standards. Recently, Fannie Mae, for instance, tightened its rules for real estate investors buying multiple homes, which the owners typically rent out. In the past, the company allowed investors to borrow against up to 10 properties. Now, it limits them to four.
“That immediately knocked out a large supply of people who were prepared to buy these homes,” said Lou Barnes, a mortgage broker based in Boulder, Colo., referring to foreclosed or vacant homes. He added, “The main reason for suppressed prices of homes is the difficulty of financing them.”
Those tougher conditions may remain in place for a while. The financial system is being forced to undo the excesses of recent years and return to a more sustainable level of debt in the economy, said Marc D. Stern, chief investment officer at Bessemer Trust, an investment firm in New York.
For instance, the percentage of equity Americans have in their homes fell below 50 percent for the first time last year, from more than 60 percent in the early 1990s. In the first quarter, homeowners’ equity had dwindled to 46.2 percent.
“This is not just another cycle,” Mr. Stern said. “It’s the end of a period of rampant leverage and lax lending standards, and that takes a bit of time to work through.”
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July 1st, 2008
No Mortgage? Try Theirs
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By JOSH BARBANEL
Published: June 29, 2008
AT the Fitzgerald, a new condominium development carved out of a prewar warehouse on West 117th Street in Harlem, sales have been steady but slow, with some would-be buyers worried about getting the jumbo mortgages they need.
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The Fitzgerald
So the developers, Robert Friedman and his brother, Bernard, have decided they will issue mortgages directly to buyers at competitive interest rates, on as much as 90 percent of the purchase price, with no points and no appraisal fees.
“We see buyers who otherwise in a different market would have qualified for mortgages,” Robert Friedman said. “It works for buyers, we break even on costs, and it facilitates a sale.”
Mr. Friedman has seen the ups and downs of the real estate market through several stormy cycles, and offered similar financing plans in the 1970s and ’80s. Now, as the velocity of sales has slowed, he is trying again, though he is holding the line on asking prices.
Since the loan offer was included in a condominium plan amendment in April, Mr. Friedman said, three buyers have signed contracts with the financing and a fourth is about to. Two of the buyers took out the maximum conventional government-insured mortgages for the first $417,000 and then used sponsor financing for the rest.
The Fitzgerald, just off Frederick Douglass Boulevard near the epicenter of Harlem’s condominium development scene, has 47 one- and two-bedroom apartments, available from $655,000 to $1.85 million (for a two-bedroom 2,284-square-foot penthouse with four skylights and a terrace). The apartments are being marketed by Halstead’s new development group.
So far, 19 units are said to have gone into contract since the building was approved for sale about a year ago. The hulking warehouse was last used as a charter school. Under the renovation, much of its facade has been covered with terra-cotta-colored panels, and a sculpture that looks like a wall of water was installed in the lobby. The condominium is due to open in the next week or so.
The loans offered by the sponsor have the same repayment schedule as 30-year-loans, but are available for a maximum of seven years — more than enough time, Mr. Friedman said, to wait out the national real estate malaise. Interest rates will be set a half a percentage point below those offered by Citicorp on comparable 30-year loans.
He said buyers would be required to put down at least 10 percent, or $65,000 for the least expensive unit, and to qualify for the loans. But he also said the sponsor’s standards would be “much more liberal” than the ones currently set by most banks.
Andrew Gerringer, who overseas new developments at Prudential Douglas Elliman and is not involved in the Fitzgerald, says that “when things are tough,” sponsor financing is “not a crazy idea,” if pricing is in line with the market.
E-mail: bigdeal@nytimes.com
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June 30th, 2008
No Mortgage? Try Theirs
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By JOSH BARBANEL
Published: June 29, 2008
AT the Fitzgerald, a new condominium development carved out of a prewar warehouse on West 117th Street in Harlem, sales have been steady but slow, with some would-be buyers worried about getting the jumbo mortgages they need.
Skip to next paragraph
Enlarge This Image
The Fitzgerald
So the developers, Robert Friedman and his brother, Bernard, have decided they will issue mortgages directly to buyers at competitive interest rates, on as much as 90 percent of the purchase price, with no points and no appraisal fees.
“We see buyers who otherwise in a different market would have qualified for mortgages,” Robert Friedman said. “It works for buyers, we break even on costs, and it facilitates a sale.”
Mr. Friedman has seen the ups and downs of the real estate market through several stormy cycles, and offered similar financing plans in the 1970s and ’80s. Now, as the velocity of sales has slowed, he is trying again, though he is holding the line on asking prices.
Since the loan offer was included in a condominium plan amendment in April, Mr. Friedman said, three buyers have signed contracts with the financing and a fourth is about to. Two of the buyers took out the maximum conventional government-insured mortgages for the first $417,000 and then used sponsor financing for the rest.
The Fitzgerald, just off Frederick Douglass Boulevard near the epicenter of Harlem’s condominium development scene, has 47 one- and two-bedroom apartments, available from $655,000 to $1.85 million (for a two-bedroom 2,284-square-foot penthouse with four skylights and a terrace). The apartments are being marketed by Halstead’s new development group.
So far, 19 units are said to have gone into contract since the building was approved for sale about a year ago. The hulking warehouse was last used as a charter school. Under the renovation, much of its facade has been covered with terra-cotta-colored panels, and a sculpture that looks like a wall of water was installed in the lobby. The condominium is due to open in the next week or so.
The loans offered by the sponsor have the same repayment schedule as 30-year-loans, but are available for a maximum of seven years — more than enough time, Mr. Friedman said, to wait out the national real estate malaise. Interest rates will be set a half a percentage point below those offered by Citicorp on comparable 30-year loans.
He said buyers would be required to put down at least 10 percent, or $65,000 for the least expensive unit, and to qualify for the loans. But he also said the sponsor’s standards would be “much more liberal” than the ones currently set by most banks.
Andrew Gerringer, who overseas new developments at Prudential Douglas Elliman and is not involved in the Fitzgerald, says that “when things are tough,” sponsor financing is “not a crazy idea,” if pricing is in line with the market.
E-mail: bigdeal@nytimes.com
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June 30th, 2008
Life After Tenements
By JOYCE COHEN
Published: June 29, 2008
THE arrival of a renewal lease kicked Maggie Weber and Joey Arak into gear. After three years, the monthly rent on their East Village tenement one-bedroom was set to surpass $2,000. “If we are going to start putting down some serious money,” Mr. Arak said, “let’s at least go somewhere we can enjoy coming home every day. ”
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Tina Fineberg for The New York Times
Maggie Weber and Joey Arak, with Frank, moved in last spring. More Photos »
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The couple had no intention of leaving their neighborhood, however. The East Village was home. Besides, Ms. Weber, who teaches third grade in the Bronx, was reluctant to give up the excellent and familiar street parking. After enduring a subway trip of up to 90 minutes each way, she leased a car last year. She had her commuting routine down to a science, parking in one of three locations, depending on when she arrived home.
Ms. Weber, 27, is from Wantagh in Nassau County, while Mr. Arak, 26, is from Miami. The two met as students at Boston University. After their graduation in 2003, they rented a cheap one-bedroom on Orchard Street, and then a more expensive one on East 13th Street. The rent increase last spring would add $200 to their $1,900 rent. “How much time can you spend in the same junky apartment?” Mr. Arak asked.
There were roaches and mice. In the lobby, the landlord posted a sheet so that tenants could sign up for an exterminator, but no exterminator ever came. The heat, stove and toilet all worked improperly. To flush, they had to pull the rubber stopper by hand.
Mr. Arak, an editor at Curbed.com, a real estate blog, loves hunting for apartments online. His job “made me want a nice apartment because I am brainwashed by staring at multimillion-dollar properties all day,” he said.
Their starting price of $2,500 a month for a one-bedroom “bumped us up to a level above the kind of apartment we had,” he said.
Ideally, that meant new construction, but the East Village had few new rental buildings. One was on East 12th Street near Avenue B. Living there would fit into Ms. Weber’s after-school routine: If she came home early, she would park her Ford Focus on East 12th or 13th. If she returned around 6 p.m., she would head for the Stuyvesant Town loading zone, and if that was full, she would pay the $1.50-an-hour meter fee on 14th Street, in effect until 7 p.m. In the morning, she left before the start of alternate-side parking restrictions.
But the one-bedrooms, at around $3,000, were pricey and they had no bedroom closets. “Now that I am a little bit older, things are important to me that I never cared about before,” including closets and light, Mr. Arak said.
Ms. Weber also disliked the block. The community garden opposite the building functioned more as a raucous gathering place than a vegetable plot.
It was on to a new building on 10th Street near First Avenue, where they could rent a one-bedroom for $2,750 a month. This also seemed pricey, and parking was scarce on the boutique-filled streets.
If they couldn’t afford a new building, perhaps they could afford a two-bedroom in an older building. They saw one in a tenement building on East 10th Street near Avenue B. A dead mouse lay on the sidewalk. But even though the apartment seemed fine, at $2,600 a month, “we just couldn’t do the run-down tenement vibe again,” Mr. Arak said.
Meanwhile, nearby Stuyvesant Town, the vast housing complex bought in 2006 by Tishman Speyer Properties, was now allowing pets. That eliminated worries about their Boston terrier, Frank. No harm in looking.
“We both had a problem originally with the idea of Stuy Town, because it looks so blech,” Ms. Weber said. “It is just some brick buildings with a lawn in the middle and a fountain.”
Its 80 grassy acres were wasted on her. “I am not a person to go out in nature or wilderness,” she said.
There was also plenty of tension surrounding the change to market-rate rents after decades of rent regulation. “You walk around, and it is all older people and families with kids,” Mr. Arak said. But in the leasing office, “it is all 20-somethings.”
They loved the one-bedrooms they saw, which were big and pristine. Everything worked. Stuy Town might be decent, they figured, as long as they could find a desirable urban location, on the First Avenue or 14th Street sides.
The apartment that they chose was on 14th Street near Avenue B. At $2,850 a month, it was above their budget, but it came with utilities included and a month’s free rent. (Prorated over a year, that’s $2,613 a month.) They paid a one-time pet fee of $250 for Frank.
The couple arrived just as there was a dip in prices. Currently, one-bedrooms start at $3,050, according to Tishman Speyer.
The two arrived in April to find a gift basket in the kitchen, with assorted snacks, cleaning products and scented toiletries. Their second night there, two downstairs neighbors informed them that Frank barked nonstop when left alone. Then came a Stuyvesant Town security guard.
For a week, Mr. Arak worked from home, afraid to leave the dog alone. They were sure they would be evicted. Petland Discounts came to the rescue, with an anti-bark collar that sprays an unpleasant citronella scent when the dog barks.
Arriving home, Mr. Arak said, “we would smell Frank’s face and it smelled citrusy, and we never got another complaint.”
Now, with a working kitchen, the two are cooking dinner for the first time in years, and watching a new 46-inch television set that actually fits in the living room. Despite their protestations about nature, they have sunbathed at the oval, Stuyvesant Town’s central green.
Mr. Arak is a devout reader of the Stuyvesant Town tenants’ message board (www.stpcvta.org).
“I am amazed at the anger against market raters and Tishman Speyer,” he said. Noise, landscaping, pets — all are divisive topics.
“If I didn’t live here, I would assume it is a living hell,” he said. “But I love living here. Now we have this big apartment that is nicer than anything I thought I would be able to afford. I never thought I would have a dishwasher in my whole life.”
E-mail: thehunt@nytimes.com
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