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July 6, 2006 by Nathan Hughes

City Budgets for Shockoe Bottom

I have heard a lot of dissent about the way that Shockoe Bottom has been ignored by the city.  Sure, sure, the business owners in the Bottom feel slighted from the lack of assistance in response to promises made after Gaston.  But I have heard a lot of people complain about the lack of focus on keeping the streets clean.

There is even a special property tax (only assessed to property owners in the Bottom) that is supposed to go to keeping the area nice.  Maybe the tax isn’t enough, I don’t know.  But something needs to be done to retain existing businesses and to attract new businesses.  (And, yes, I am aware that this "special" tax is assessed in other areas, but I don’t think that most people know about it.)

In any case, this news that Style reported on yesterday was a welcome announcement (now we just need to be sure that it is spent the way it is intended):

Link: Style Weekly : Richmond’s alternative for news, arts, culture and opinion.

City spokesman Linwood Norman says that in the budget passed June 27, $1.9 million is set aside for drainage improvements in Shockoe Bottom. And $3 million is earmarked for The Main Street Plaza, a kind of pedestrian connector between the 17th Street Farmer’s Market and an expanded Canal Walk. Norman describes the project as a “cathedral” walk marked by elaborate brickwork and lighting that compliments the $54 million Main Street Station across the street.

Filed Under: Government Institutions, Redevelopment, Retail

June 27, 2006 by Nathan Hughes

WSJ.com – Arenas of Dreams: But Will Teams Come?

There was an interesting article on WSJ.com the other day that should resonate with anyone following the news in Richmond regarding the debate over the Baseball Park initiative.  This is an issue that cities across the U.S. are struggling over.

It would be interesting to see some kind of official reaction to this information from both/all sides of the local debate.

Link: WSJ.com – Arenas of Dreams: But Will Teams Come?.

But while arenas with big-time tenants may bolster a city’s self-image and quality of life, evidence shows they have a minimal economic upside. Most operate at a loss.

In "The Economics of Sports Facilities and Their Communities," published in 2000 in the Journal of Economic Perspectives, authors Andrew Zimbalist of Smith College and John Siegfried of Vanderbilt University argue that "independent work on the economic impact of stadiums and arenas has uniformly found that there is no statistically significant positive correlation between sports facility construction and economic development."

The authors cite several studies, including one by sports economist Robert Baade that found "no significant difference in personal income growth from 1958 to 1987 between 36 metropolitan areas that hosted a team in one of the four premier professional sports leagues and 12 otherwise comparable areas that did not." The authors’ conclusion: Arenas put a drag on the local economy by hurting spending on other activities in the city and boosting municipal costs such as security.

Filed Under: National News, New Development, Redevelopment

June 16, 2006 by Nathan Hughes

New regs for flipping properties

The FHA has addressed a lot of "malpractice" in the practice of flipping properties.  Reportedly, some investors are profitting well at the expense of the FHA.

But the FHA found that too many property flips using its insured
mortgage program involved outright fraud — hyped appraisals, shell
games where property flippers never actually took legal title to the
house before selling it for huge profits, sometimes overnight.

Link: Realty Times – Real Estate News and Advice.

To rein in such practices, FHA proposed — and last week adopted in final form — new restrictions. Specifically, FHA will now require that:

    * Only owners of record — listed as such in the local court house real estate recordations — may sell properties that will be financed using FHA insured loans.

    * Any resale of a property may not occur 90 or fewer days from the last sale to be eligible for FHA financing.

    * For resales that occur between 91 and 180 days where the new sales price exceeds the previous sale price by 100 percent or more, FHA will require additional documentation of the property’s true value before insuring the mortgage.

    * The agency may also require additional evidence of the accuracy of appraisals whenever properties are re-sold at high price gains within 12 months.

The FHA 90-day no-flip time restrictions will be waived when the sellers of properties to be financed are:

    * HUD itself, disposing of its REO (real estate owned) acquired property portfolio.

    * Sales of properties that were acquired by the sellers through an inheritance.

    * Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac or other federally-chartered financial institutions disposing of REO.

    * Local or state housing agencies.

    * Nonprofit organizations that have previous approvals to purchase HUD REO properties at a discount.

    * Properties located in a presidentially-declared disaster area, provided FHA has issued a formal announcement of eligibility for a specific disaster area.

Real estate investors, particularly those who specialize in rehabilitations of rundown structures in central city areas, had complained to HUD about possible negative impacts on their business activities stemming from the new rules. But HUD decided that banning most 90-day or under flips, and by scrutinizing flips between 91 and 180 days of acquisition where the price markup exceeded 100 percent, FHA should be able to protect itself against the worst abuses.

Investors with questions about the new regulations can call 1-800-CALL FHA for guidance. The rules are contained in HUD Mortgagee Letter 2006-14, issued June 8.

I, for one, am glad to see that the hucksters are being shaken out of the industry.  We need to uphold the ethical standards that so many of us take for granted.

Filed Under: Government Institutions, Investing

June 15, 2006 by Nathan Hughes

TimesDispatch.com | White Oak: Short Pump East?

Link: TimesDispatch.com | White Oak: Short Pump East?.
White Oak: Short Pump East?
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Jun 15, 2006

LOCAL NEWS: Henrico County

The Henrico County Planning Commission is scheduled to decide tonight whether to recommend rezoning for a proposed shopping complex in eastern Henrico that would be nearly the size of Short Pump Town Center.

The meeting starts at 7 p.m. at the county administration building, 4301 E. Parham Road. The public is invited to speak on the case before the vote.

Cleveland-based Forest City Enterprises Inc., the developer of Short Pump Town Center, proposes to build the 950,000-square-foot White Oak Village complex on 136 acres along Laburnum Avenue just south of Interstate 64.

It is the site of the former Viasystems Technologies Corp. plant, which closed in 2001. Forest City plans to raze the plant.

By comparison, Short Pump Town Center is about 1.1 million square feet. The total square footage of White Oak Village would be slightly less than that of Virginia Center Commons but more than that of Regency Square mall.
Click here for great deals from Dell!

Once the Planning Commission either recommends approval or denial, the rezoning case then moves to the county Board of Supervisors for the decisive vote.

For full coverage, see tomorrow’s Times-Dispatch.

Filed Under: Government Institutions, Henrico County, New Development, Restaurants, Retail, Shopping Centers

June 14, 2006 by Nathan Hughes

TimesDispatch.com | Ukrop’s still grocery king

Link: TimesDispatch.com | Ukrop’s still grocery king.

Ukrop’s still grocery king

Richmond Times-Dispatch

Jun 14, 2006

Top 50 Area Employers Top 50 Area Employers
� Ukrop’s Super Markets Inc.

Ukrop’s is still No. 1 for groceries.

But Kroger and non-traditional grocers such as Wal-Mart and CVS continue to eat away at Ukrop’s Super Markets Inc.’s market share

Locally owned Ukrop’s, long the dominant chain here, saw its market share dip to 21.64 percent among all retailers that sell groceries from 22.41 percent a year ago. The market share is published each June by Food World, a periodical that follows the grocery industry in the mid-Atlantic.

Kroger increased its market share, as did CVS and Walgreens.

To check the rankings, and compare the sales to last year’s results, see tomorrow’s Times-Dispatch.

Filed Under: Retail

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