October 14, 2022
Well, my blog went on vacation, holiday, an hiatus or perchance a sabbatical. Not sure which. Based on our HR department, it did have PTO, so it took some liberties. People love to take time off in the summer and I suppose blogs are no different. It made me ponder, what is the difference between the above words? So, I took the occasion to look them up.
vacation
a period of suspension of work, study, or other activity, usually used for rest, recreation, or travel; recess or holiday
holiday
Chiefly British. to vacation
hiatus
a break or interruption in the continuity of a work, series, action, etc
Sabbatical
any extended period of leave from one's customary work, especially for rest, to acquire new skills or training, etc.
Huh. Fine thing. That didn't help. It could be any of those. My hope, however, is the blog took a sabbatical so that the writings are better through acquisition of new skills or training.
One of the things I continue to ponder is why we need to have a way to pronounce the word in question. Why don't we just spell the aforementioned word, suhbatikuhl. Or the one before that: hahyeytuhs. Actually, that is more confusing. How does hahy = hi? I would think that hi means hi. Let me see what the dictionary says. Just look at that! The dictionary says to pronounce the word hi, "hahy". So, hahy is pronounced "hi" and not "ha-hee". English is weird.
With that wordy detour I came to the same conclusion. The blog was out of the office. Gone. Not here. And, regardless of the reason, it's all excuses. And, excuses don't matter, regardless, because the blog still didn't get written. The task was not complete. Let's fix that. So, it is here and in force!
(DRUMROLL)
Time for the update!
Thunder Mountain
You know, sometimes working with municipalities is like carrying water in our hands. Or, is it more like herding cats? Well, I have carried water in my hands, although not too far, but have never herded cats. Has either of my readers herded cats? Perhaps you can share that experience. Nonetheless, the fire marshal retired and the new fire marshal come into the conversations. And, as is often the case, the new fire marshal has different understanding to what we agreed than the previous fire marshal. So, we have some added things that have caused some delays.
First, they were going to allow us to move residents into the finished units upon their completion. So, we had a plan to bifurcate the water line so that the completed units would be on the new system and protected. In other words, we would have a branch that was finished and a branch that was not. However, the new fire marshal said the ENTIRE building must be sprinklered prior to a partial occupancy permit. This crimps our style, reduces projected income and downright gets in the way of progress.
Additionally, they said we need a wall between the currently occupied units and the ones under construction so that the residents don't wander into a construction zone. Well, the work is being done INSIDE the individual units so the chance of unintentionally wandering into this construction area is slim to none and slim left town. Well, too bad so sad, they said. And, a new wall is going to be installed; albeit, a temporary one.
More to come on this project!
The Eighty-Ten
The Eighty-Ten is a 36-unit complex we are repositioning in Albuquerque, New Mexico. This is exciting because it was a pretty decently run project when we bought it and it needed some of our TLC. So, we retained the in-place onsite property manager and she is doing a wonderful job!
Did you know that Albuquerque was named after a Spanish city Alburquerque. Yep! It's true. And, their biggest event is the - .... Hot Air Balloon Festival. It's incredible! Well, from what I have seen online and heard from others. I have never been. However, once I go I won't be able to say that anymore.
They had a few down units which were in terrible shape, so we focused on them first. We had to replace some of the vigas (support beams that look like logs) on the 2nd story walkways. There were some windows that were replaced. And, we are repainting the building. This place is looking more like a warm and inviting home every day!
APEX
Our latest project is the APEX Apartments in Fort Worth, Texas. This 152-unit complex is a lighter value-add than we have pursued previously. It's one of those deals that just kinda fell into our lap. Previously, it was Antigua Village. Since it is in the Stop Six neighborhood that is undergoing a gentrifying revitalization, we changed the name.
This property is the only apartment building currently in this submarket. There are plans to build new apartments nearby on a vacant lot that was previously Federal Projects. For those of you who don't know what "projects" are, you will have to search google and see what you can learn about the housing projects HUD oversaw in years gone by. They were so well run (cough) that the city of Fort Worth had the residents relocated to various locations around the DFW area, condemned the buildings and razed them to the ground. Yeah, that kind of place. Well, that's gone and the new development is in the planning stages.
Right next door is a new complex going up that will be Cowan Place and is age restricted to 62+. They have broken ground and the building is going up as we speak. When complete it will be a 174 unit, multi-story facility with mixed income residents. This property will be great for the neighborhood and great for a neighbor. We are super excited.
Concluding Thoughts
As my readers may have noticed I expanded the blog. You see, some investors asked me if I was going to do similar updates on our other properties. My first reaction was, "That's too much work." Then I got to thinking, "Hey! What if I combined them all into one? How would that look?" Well, now I know.
And that is our projects from my corner of the globe ~Bruce
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