Real estate prices have just about bottomed out. Even the biggest idiot who was ever conceived would take advantage of this market if they had the opportunity. The Lake Worth CRA has a unique opportunity and now is the time to buy while conditions are in our favor.
In so many ways, real estate is local. Our City is on the path to upgrading our beach and casino property. We just finished the Pier. Bryant Park is getting an over-haul and our golf course is still the most magnificent piece of property. Businesses are moving into
Why wouldn’t we want to seize this opportunity on
Once the building is renovated, we will have a fabulous property directly across the street from City Hall. This is the same area and the beginning of what is destined to be a city center development down the pike. The CRA can move its office there, rent out the rest of the space at favorable commercial rents (if there is some problem in finding lessees) in order to get it occupied during our economic downturn and rent out the upstairs for special meetings. Once the economy turns around, and it will, rents will go up accordingly. They could even rent space to the City of
During the renovation, the CRA will market the property and attract commercial interest. If every tenant built out his own space, and paid his own share of property taxes, insurance, etc., we would have a building paying for itself.
I hate to see a “steal” pass through our finger tips, one that would be a valuable community asset, because we are afraid of taking a chance on the future. If you believe in
I certainly hope that the CrA will be able to get the building. It is beautiful.Cultural redevelopment will go hand in hand with the NSP grant.
ReplyDeleteI agree with both of you on this issue. However, at last night’s CRA/Commission workshop it seemed as though the CRA Council has already made the decision NOT to move forward with this purchase as they were all speaking about it in the past tense. Instead they seem to want to try and move forward with this Arts Overlay program where they buy homes and sell them to artists for living, working and retail purposes. WTF? Now we’re going to have a bunch of people buying properties way below market value which in turn will drive our property values down. Thanks CRA! Has anybody thought about the HUGE gamble we take on each “artist” we sell one of these properties to? I put artists in quotes because I’m not sure what constitutes an artist these days, but that’s another discussion. These business models are the most volatile in the market and the first to go in a bad economy. Now LW will have a bunch of pretty abandoned homes because artists can’t afford to stay in business most of the time, but maybe that’s because they won’t have accessibility for handicap people to come in and buy stuff. That’s right – for those of you not there, the CRA wants code to layoff on enforcing ramps, parking and bathroom facilities needed for the handicap. These are our tax dollars hard at work for every tax payer. Handicap people live tax free right?
ReplyDeleteWhat I see is the Commission making a move for affordable housing again. BTW -- Where’s the plan for the CDBG affordable housing program? 1000 Lake is the best choice the CRA can make with this money. It’s a beautiful building being sold way under what it is really worth. It’s an icon of our downtown and furthers the westward movement that we so desperately need.
Write the CRA Council an email before the 16th to tell them what you think and show up to the meeting that day to show your support. http://www.lakeworthcra.org/default.asp?contentID=517
Please note that I am not speaking on behalf of any organization and these are my own personal opinions.