Worlds Tallest Building Opens For Business: Welcome to The Burj Khalifa.

Yesterday marked the official grand opening of the worlds tallest building in Dubai, the Burj Khalifa. Originally named The Burj Dubai ('Dubai Tower' in Arabic); construction started on September 21, 2004 and was completed October 1, 2009.

"So what?" one may ask. "Dubai has been building high rises like crazy for years". While that is true, I'll let the facts and figures for the highest man-made structure in the world speak for themselves:

Height: 2,684 feet. 1,000 feet taller than the next highest building, Taipei 101 completed in 2004.

Floors: 160.

Cost: $1.5 billion USD or $9 million USD per floor.

Elevators: 57.

Capacity: 25,000 people.

Usable square footage: 5.67 million.

Residential units: 1,044.

Residential square footage: 1.85 million.

Office square footage: 300,000.

How many appliances? Miele manufactured 7,650 for the residential units.

How many toilets and bidets? Duravit made 4,000 for the building.

Observation Deck? Highest in the world on the 124th floor.

So for now, The Burj Khalifa wins the age old "Whose is bigger?" contest.

The unanswered question is how are the condo closings going? With the sales office claiming to have sold 95% of the 1,044 units within eight hours of hitting the market back in 2006, it will be interesting to see how many of these contracts close amid economic uncertainty both in Dubai and abroad. Prices per square foot are reported to have topped out at $2600 USD.

Thinking about selling your 'shaq' and moving up? I'm happy to provide you with a complimentary marketing analysis and opinion of value.

A Toast...

To my colleagues, clients and friends:

Thank you for indulging me each week when I pick up my virtual pen. I hope you find it entertaining, informative, sometimes zen.

I am grateful for life's blessings and my ability to share and send. In a small way, we learn, we laugh, we mend.

2009 is almost gone, the first decade of the new century at end. Now the wiser, lets welcome 2010!

Cheers!

SOLD! Online Storage Auction Rakes It In; Provides Storage For Rakes.

The Infinity held the second and final round of deeded storage space auctions last Thursday. Round one of the auction took place November 18th with all units selling. Thursday night represented the last opportunity for Infinity homeowners to bid in the online auction and score a deal on some much needed room to stash bicycles, buggies and boards, both ski and surf.

I have a client who participated unsuccessfully in the first round and would be traveling during the second, so I happily stepped in to be his bidder-by-proxy. Being a very bright and analytical gentlemen, he provided me with a detailed bid strategy which yielded success and what I think to be a respectable value based on the 'comps' as we say in real estate.

That brings me to the most fascinating thing about the auction for me: seeing value assigned to property in real time. It was a small-scale case study of a consumer market in action. Before your eyes you saw demand rise and fall, then rise and fall again. Prices did a similar dance, leveling off for periods, dropping and then shooting up suddenly. I found it terribly interesting to review the post auction data and determine patterns and how well the group did individually and as a whole.

The big question on most peoples minds: Does having storage add value to my home? My answer: Absolutely, but there is no way to determine how much. Try this scenario: Two almost identical Infinity units hit the market at the same time at the same price. One has storage and the other does not, which sells first?

In a challenging market, anything a seller can do to make their home stand out will add value. Whether or not that value translates to more money, a quicker sale or both is up to the market.

Asked and Answered: Does Downtown San Francisco Really Need Another Mall?

According to the Urban Realty Company, the developer for the proposed CityPlace Mall on Market Street between 5th and 6th, the answer is "Yes". The project has been in the design and review phase for a few years now. If approved in the current iteration, CityPlace will add approximately 250,000 square feet of 'value' based' retail along a dreary stretch of Market Street that most people wouldn't consider strolling down at any time of day or night, retail or not.

In general, I'm a pro-development type of guy but I'm not confident this mall will succeed. With potential tenants being 'value based' (think Ross Stores and the like) and the retail sector suffering, I don't see what value this adds to the neighborhood. Target will open The Metreon soon and additional retail square footage seems superfluous. Maybe I'm short sighted.

Neighborhood residents have the most to gain. Anything that can be done to change the scene along Market Street there can and should move forward. In lieu of a Ross, how about a grocery store that could serve the areas new residents in buildings like SOMAGrand and Argenta ? The typical Safeway occupies about 45,000 square feet so there would still be plenty of room
for designer outlet stores.

In the mean time, I'll see you at The Westfield Center. An excellent example of historic rehabilitation, adaptive and mixed-use development that is home to Spanish designer knock-off value retailer Zara. So there.

Holy Healthcare Batman! $2.6 Billion in Hospital Construction Under Way in SF

As the national debate on health care rages on, San Francisco's medical institutions have other fish to fry. In order to be in compliance with state seismic safety laws, UCSF Hospitals and San Francisco General Hospital have embarked on ambitious building campaigns. They are building earthquake-safe facilities and providing the City and region with new physical infrastructure that will be perfectly situated to take advantage of the pharmaceutical and bio-tech investment and research happening here.

A quick glance at the action:

UCSF Osher Center for Integrative Medicine. Scheduled for completion in late 2010. The 48,000 square foot facility is located at the corner of Post and Divisadero Streets and its substantial steel frame is already in place. The Osher Center will house research, education and clinical programs and is estimated to an approximately $400 million price tag.

UCSF Mission Bay Children's Hospital. The first phase of a three hospital project, Children's will house 183 beds and is budgeted at $1.6 billion. Site work is under way on the corner of Third and 17th Streets and a complete facility will arrive by 2014. This hospital will allow UCSF to continue being one of the top ranked children's hospitals in the country (currently ranked 7th). Hospitals specializing in cancer and women's care will follow on the same site.

San Francisco General Hospital. After San Francisco voters passed a bond initiative to the tune of $887 million, plans for the new hospital on the current Potrero Avenue campus moved forward. The new and improved 450,000 square foot, 284 bed hospital should be ready for staff and patients in 2015 and will be a welcome improvement over the current hodge-podge of buildings. Many of my doctor friends have told me that if you suffer a traumatic injury and are still conscious, tell the EMT's to take you to General.

With General's construction financed by bonds, UCSF is relying on donations, bequests and grants to fund its construction costs.

Now all we need is a seismically sound Veterinary Hospital for Cat Woman and The Penguin.

Five Things To Be Thankful For This Thanksgiving 2009

Chances are that if you are reading this you likely have your basic needs as a human being covered. Food, shelter and enough money to have some control of your life and take care of your loved ones. Something to be thankful for, indeed. My list of five things to be thankful for this Thanksgiving could be interpreted as shallow. But lets face it: I'm a real estate agent and I write about real estate, and we are fortunate here in San Francisco as far as that topic is concerned. Don't believe me ? Read on...

1.) Extended and expanded federal home buyer tax credits for 2010.

Its estimated that 40% of new home buyers in 2009 moved forward with their transactions because of the state and federal tax credits that were offered. I don't know what the percentage of buyers in San Francisco is that would make that claim, but increased transaction volume bodes well for the market and boosts confidence on a national, state and local level.

2.) Inventory is down and there's not much in the pipeline.

I've said it before, but it bears repeating: Only one high rise development will open for sales Downtown in 2010. One Hawthorne will add 165 units to Downtown inventory amidst a market that will have absorbed almost all other units.
The Infinity, Arterra, BLU, and One Rincon are all starting to scrape the barrel with approximately 140 units available amongst the four.

3.) Mortgage money is still cheap.

The process of getting a mortgage may be more onerous than it once was, and it certainly takes longer for transactions to close due to a finicky and seemingly arbitrary underwriting process, but interest rates are still REALLY low. All the folks buying in 2009 know that and I'm confident we will have good rates available in the near future.

4.) Low inventory + demand = a more balanced market.

Buyers had it made in '09. If you had good credit and a reasonable down payment the world was your oyster in terms of purchasing a condominium Downtown. Sellers of both new and resale properties got realistic and starting making deals happen that established a new 'normal' for value based on the pros and con's of the property itself and not the dream of quick and easy equity. With inventory drying up, I predict a more balanced market between sellers and buyers than was possible in '09.

5.) You. Are. Here.

I don't want to put down other cities because that would be rude. But let's be real. Whether you own or rent, want to buy or sell, you probably live in San Francisco. It can be a maddening, annoying, frustrating place. Yet at the end of the day we live in a city that people from all over the world come to visit for just a few days and then go back to their dreary 'burgs, 'hams and 'villes. Remember that when you dig into that turkey, tofurkey or whatever else you'll be feasting on this Thursday.

Ye Olde San Francisco: Adaptive Reuse at 25 Hotaling

The nine units at 25 Hotaling represent a completely different take on how to live Downtown then you will typically see me writing about. Located in Jackson Square, this former warehouse built sometime in the 1850's has been thoughtfully updated into duplex and flat style condominiums. With no on-site parking available and fairly modest square footage, these units are ideal pied a terres for financial district types who want to walk to the office and don't require a full service environment.

My favorite part of the development is the setting: The scale of the neighborhood is true to the mid nineteenth century, human sized streets and wonderful old buildings with heavy Italianate moldings and trims. Without trying to be cliche, it feels like an old European quarter with stylish bars and restaurants nestled among art and design shops.

If you haven't strolled though Jackson Square, I highly recommend it. Its a lot cleaner and fancier than it was in the 1850's and its probably the best place in San Francisco to get a sense of what the city was like when it was still called Yerba Buena.

If you would like to schedule a tour at 25 Hotaling, drop me line. One olde timey whiskey, included.