Clark's e-news: Sustainable Housing + ABQ Development

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Samantha Clark, Associate Broker                                     Real Estate Services

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Sustainable Housing + ABQ Development

Back in 2001, Scientific American wrote the following about what would happen if a hurricane ever hit the Big Easy—New Orleans is a disaster waiting to happen. The city lies below sea level, in a bowl bordered by levees that fend off Lake Pontchartrain to the north and the Missis­sippi River to the south and west. And because of a damning confluence of factors, the city is sinking further, putting it at increasing flood risk after even minor storms. The low-lying Missis­sippi Delta, which buffers the city from the gulf, is also rapidly disappearing. A year from now another 25 to 30 square miles of delta marsh--an area the size of Manhattan--will have van­ished. An acre disappears every 24 minutes. Each loss gives a storm surge a clearer path to wash over the delta and pour into the bowl, trapping one million people inside and another million in surrounding communities. Extensive evacuation would be impossible because the surging water would cut off the few escape routes. Scientists at Louisiana State University (L.S.U.), who have modeled hundreds of possible storm tracks on advanced computers, predict that more than 100,000 people could die.   An iReporter at CNN has posted a fascinating look at rebuilding in New Orleans after the inevi­table damage of Hurricane Katrina. Putting up new housing isn’t just about constructing new houses on stilts. It’s about creating green, affordable and safe homes on a large scale. Neighborhoods like the Lower Ninth Ward aren’t just looking at individual houses, but also how the neighborhood interacts with, and needs to rebuild, the coast. They are figuring out how they can fit sustainably in the environment. This is a model of how all housing should be approached in the 21st century. From the ruins of the housing mortgage meltdown, to economic contraction, to growing issues of pollution, commuter miles and water scarcity, the current crisis in the housing industry will also help open force us to find better ways of creating communities. So while 2009 has been a rough year in real estate, I’m confident 2010 will bring out the best minds to find creative and sustainable solutions in housing. The opportunity now exists to find excellent new ways of doing business. While many developers, builders, and real estate com­panies are frozen waiting for the last century to come back, a few companies are adapting and moving forward in our current environment. Some are even starting to thrive.

ABQ Development Round Up 2009

Remarks NM Business Weekly, in real estate, 2009 was all about survival. Most survived, but no developer or CEO had a breakthrough year. With deal flow nearly non-existent and construction starts thudding almost to a halt, it was tough to make a buck in all forms of commercial real estate. However, several entrepreneurs had a notable year, including Gary Goodman, Vincent Garcia and Gordon “Skip” Skarsgard. · Garcia’s Blue Dot Corp. has been unable to complete the 10-story Anasazi condo complex at 6th and Central Avenue because of lender issues, some of which were partially due to the recessionary times. Garcia’s foreclosure problems at Copper Square, at 5th and Cop­per, and the Anasazi project in downtown Albuquerque offered stark visual evidence of the stress the recession has put on Downtown development. · Gary Goodman was the Business Weekly’s 2008 top newsmaker, but he had a bipolar 2009. While he opened his Andaluz hotel Downtown, his Winrock Town Center project in Uptown was unable to break ground. · Despite the recession, Gordon “Skip” Skarsgard pulled a trifecta in 2009. He was able to fully lease his new Class A Paseo Nuevo building in the Duke City while making big strides with his Las Soleras project in Santa Fe and jumpstarting a new project in Rio Rancho. · In commercial real estate brokerage, two large national names – Grubb & Ellis New Mexico and CB Richard Ellis – have been the dominant players in Albuquerque. Steve Maestas made major strides to change that in 2009. Maestas, a former CB Richard Ellis retail broker who was mentored by Gary Goodman when he leased his shopping centers, has built his own firm, Maestas & Ward Commerical Real Estate, into a major competitor for those national powerhouses. He has built his boutique agency into a top five brokerage and took market share in 2009 by being aggressive while his competitors hunkered down. Young (age 46) and ambitious, Maestas reasons that recessions are the best times for wealth transfer, and he aims to get his share while others retrench. By raiding his larger competitors for talent, he was able to expand his services and made headway, especially in property manage­ment.

Contact Samantha Clark at samantha.clark@coldwellbankerlegacy.com  or 505.401.1561

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