Friday, September 28, 2012

BR port finalizes land deal

From The Adovcate:

The Port of Greater Baton Rouge got the final signature Thursday from a family selling the port a 135-acre piece of property on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway.

The port agreed to pay $3.1 million for the land, which bundled with previously purchased parcels will be used for future development, ending a long-running dispute over how much the parcel purchased Thursday was worth.

The purchase price of $23,000 per acre for the so-called Mahaffey property roughly split the difference between the $14,000-per-acre port appraisal for the property and the $30,000-per-acre price of the Mahaffey family’s appraisal.

In a letter to the port commission, Executive Director Jay Hardman said both appraisals were fair but used different criteria in valuing the land.

Previous reports on the dispute noted that the higher value was taking into account the surrounding land, which had been accumulated by the port during the last decade.

The port’s contention was that the Mahaffey tract needed to be valued according to what any other purchaser would pay for a piece of landlocked property.

The deal gives the port about 400 acres of developable land between its Inland Rivers Marine Terminal and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway.

The total amount for all parcels together comes to about $6.4 million, or just under $16,000 per acre.

Hardman noted that’s a fair price for that much land, noting in the letter that its lease rates for undeveloped land is between $4,500 and $6,500 per acre.

In other business, the port’s board of commissioners approved $2.1 million in work to rehabilitate the rail spur at the marine terminal, $1 million of which would come from the U.S. Economic Development Administration.

The board also approved 4 percent raises for the 26 port employees, five of them unclassified.

Hardman, who was included in the raises, said staff hadn’t gotten a raise since 2009, though some got raises in 2010.

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Real Estate Recap: September 25, 2012

From the Baton Rouge Business Report, Real Estate Weekly:
 
Landmark deal: Columbus, Ohio-based hotel investment firm RockBridge Capital today announced Monday its acquisition of the 290-room Hilton Baton Rouge Capitol Center downtown, and says the property will undergo a $7.1 million renovation. Prism Hotels & Resorts, which took over management of the downtown property earlier this year, will continue to run the hotel in partnership with the new owner. It was acquired from Commercial Properties Realty Trust, the for-profit arm of the Baton Rouge Area Foundation, for an undisclosed price. Daily Report has the full story here.

Estate sale: Paula Pennington de la Bretonne's estate at 11001 Highland Road will likely set a new benchmark for residential real estate sales in Baton Rouge when it officially goes on the market next week. According to local real estate sources, the asking price for the property, which includes a main house and multiple other structures, will exceed $20 million. De la Bretonne's daughter, Shannon Smith, is handling the listing but would not confirm the asking price or discuss the specifics of the home, which was built at de la Bretonne's behest in the early 2000s. Read the full story from Daily Report here.

Queuing up: Smokin Aces BBQ, which is planning an Oct. 1 opening at 2504 Government St., next to Garden District Nursery, will not be Memphis-style, or Kansas City-style, or Carolina-style, or Tennessee-style. Owner Brian Medlin says it will be a little bit of everything, with some home-style flavors thrown in. "Hopefully it will be called Louisiana-style barbecue," says Medlin, who also owns All Star Catering and recently bought the former Sweets BBQ—and its old seasoned smoker with rotisserie ("the backbone of the place," he says)—which will become Smokin Aces. Daily Report has all the details here.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Real Estate Recap: September 18, 2012

From the Baton Rouge Business Report, Real Estate Weekly:

The sound of silence: Metro Councilman Rodney "Smokie" Bourgeois says he'll recuse himself from voting on a restaurant that is looking to open next to his Perkins Road overpass area restaurant, Georges. City Pork Deli and Charcuterie will likely be before the Metro Council next month for final approval. Bourgeois doesn't appear to have much choice. Section 2.10 of the city-parish plan of government includes a clause prohibiting Metro Council members from voting on items in which they have a "personal or pecuniary interest." Daily Report has the full story here.

Au revoir: PrivĂ© Lingerie Boutique is closing its doors at Towne Center today for the final time. "It's been five years, and it's time to move on," owner Heather Savoy says, noting her niche boutique stumbled with the stagnant economy a few years ago and hadn't fully recovered. "It just doesn't make a lot of sense to keep doing it." Savoy says she's going back to work in residential real estate full-time—which she did for 12 years prior to opening PrivĂ© in 2007. Towne Center spokeswoman Rebecca Rainer says the shopping center is currently in the final stages of negotiations with two new undisclosed tenants. If both potential tenants do move in, Rainer says, Towne Center will be 100% occupied.

8 years in the making: Since 2004, the Port of Greater Baton Rouge has been piecing together a large tract of land along the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. As of today, port director Jay Hardman says, they're just one signature shy of obtaining the last piece of an almost 405-acre puzzle. More than a dozen heirs owned various pieces of the tract. "It'll be a good fit for the port today, as well as for future growth in years to come," says Hardman, who adds that the port commission approved the expansion unanimously. "We're pretty well filled up [currently]. We don't have a lot of green space here at all." The total cost of the tract was nearly $6.5 million in self-generated funds; the port does not receive a tax-based revenue stream.

Friday, September 14, 2012

Capital Region included in amended insurance emergency rule

From the Baton Rouge Business Report, Real Estate Weekly:
 
The Louisiana Department of Insurance has amended its Emergency Rule 26 to address concerns of insured homeowners in 23 Louisiana parishes—including East Baton Rouge and surrounding parishes—who were recently displaced by Hurricane Isaac. The emergency rule is aimed to assist displaced policyholders by granting extensions on insurance payments, allowing out-of-network medical care without penalties and forbidding the cancellation of a policy due to a storm-related claim. The amended rule clarifies the parishes in which it applies, and also extends the amount of time insured homeowners have to provide the required written notice about their displacement to their insurance companies. That date is now Sept. 25. That's also the deadline for policyholders to pay for insurance premiums due on or after Aug. 26 without penalty, under the emergency rule. The amendment also includes the suspension of other statutes and regulations in regards to policy cancellations, non-renewals, reinstatements, premium payments, claim filings and related provisions. Get all the details by reading the complete amended rule here. The parishes in which the emergency rule applies are: Ascension, Assumption, East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, Iberville, Jefferson, Lafourche, Livingston, Orleans, Plaquemines, Pointe Coupee, St. Bernard, St. Charles, St. Helena, St. James, St. John, St. Mary, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, Terrebone, Washington, West Baton Rouge and West Feliciana.

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

U.S. housing market on mend, but full recovery is still far off


From the Baton Rouge Business Report, Real Estate Weekly:

Home prices across the country during the first half of 2012 posted their strongest gains in six years, the clearest sign that more U.S. housing markets have hit bottom. But The Wall Street Journal reports the housing market remains far from normal and that hitting a bottom shouldn't be confused with a full-on recovery, which looks a ways off. Today's rising prices have less to do with surging demand—though hard-hit markets in Arizona, California, and Florida have seen significant investor appetite for distressed homes—than with declines in the number of properties for sale. Inventories of "existing" homes—that is, ones that haven't just been built—are at eight-year lows. New-home inventories are lower than at any time since the U.S. census began tracking them in 1963. In some cities, there are one-third fewer homes listed for sale than a year ago. Here's why prices are rising: There are more buyers chasing fewer homes, and—critically—fewer distressed homes, such as foreclosures. Low inventory is one sign that housing markets may have reached a turning point because many want to buy at the bottom but few want to sell. There are several factors behind the low inventory. Banks have slowed their pace of foreclosures. Investors have snapped up discounted properties that they can convert into rentals. Home builders, struggling for several years to compete on price with foreclosed properties, have added little in the way of new supply. Read the complete story for more details and analysis here.

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

B.R. home prices fall in July as U.S. posts biggest rise in 6 years

From the Baton Rouge Business Report, Real Estate Weekly:
 
U.S. home prices jumped 3.8% in the 12 months ending in July, according to a new report out this morning by private real estate data provider CoreLogic. The year-over-year increase was the biggest in six years, further evidence that the American housing market is steadily recovering. CoreLogic says home prices also rose 1.3% in July from June. That's the fifth straight increase in both the monthly and year-over-year price indexes. In Baton Rouge, however, CoreLogic reports home prices declined by 0.9% on the year through July. On a month-over-month basis, the numbers appear to show a more positive trend: Baton Rouge home prices increased by 1.8% from June to July. CoreLogic's price index is the third national index to show steady increases. The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller index posted its first annual increase in nearly two years last week. And a federal government housing agency has also reported annual increases. Still, the national housing market's recovery is just beginning. U.S. prices are still 27% below their peak in April 2006, CoreLogic notes.