Milhaus launches upgraded blog on new company website

We invite you to check out our new redesigned site http://www.milhausdevelopment.com today along with a new built-in blog.  The domain http://www.thinkmixeduse.com will now land you there.  The new site solves some navigation issues as well as updates information on our company services in Development, Consulting, Brokerage and Capital.  The new blog allows more efficient communication with our clients and readers.  It also allows sharing of posts and provides a more customized look for us going forward.  Thank you to all who have read and participated here.  We’ll be ending this WordPress blog in the next 30 days.  Please join us on the new site.  We’re looking forward to more discussions.

Emerging Trends – Indiana

Milhaus is pleased to sponsor ULI Indiana and are excited about the upcoming Emerging Trends event taking place this Thursday,  November 18^th (register at http://indiana.uli.org/).  Every year this is an event that makes you reevaluate your own business plan and methodology.  It also reaffirms or disarms your thoughts on the economy and the trends our industry is taking, not only nationally, but locally.  This year we are fortunate to have Jeffrey D. Fisher, Ph.D. and Director of the Benecki Center for Real Estate Studies at Indiana University moderating an panel of high caliber executives.  Christie Kelly, CFO at Duke Realty Corporation and Steve Sterrett, CFO of Simon Property Group lead the panel, along with Senior Vice President of ULI Dean Schwanke.  It is not often that you get together top executives from two of the largest real estate owners in the world, and have both the retail and office/industrial perspective on the markets from the financial catbirds seat.  In addition, Dean Schwanke will be unveiling the Emerging Trends report compiled by ULI/Price Waterhouse Cooper and discussing what the current status of our industry is, and some of the trends that seem to be coming in the future.  This looks to be a truly exciting and informative event in addition to the always lively networking.

Winter Farmer’s Market Set to Open Saturday at the Maxwell

Winter Farmer's Market at the Maxwell this year

Milhaus is excited to announce the Indy Winter Farmers Market taking place on Saturdays beginning this weekend at the Maxwell. It will run November 13^th – April 11^th, at 530 E. Ohio Street in Downtown Indianapolis; from 9:30 – 12:30.

As the Indy Star reported earlier this week, “Visitors will find locally produced food and products from regional farmers and food artisans. The new site is on Indy Go bus routes and a few blocks from the Cultural Trail. The market will have 6,000 square feet of floor space, compared to 4,800 at its previous home at 901 N. East Sreet. Customer seating and a children’s area are new this year. There is also a 30-space attached garage for parking.” As a neighborhood resident and business owner, we are pretty excited to help bring such a great event and gathering to our neighborhood, and hopefully people from outside the neighborhood will join us and we can show off how great of a neighborhood we have here. The market is open to the public, and all are welcome to attend and purchase the freshest organic fare you will find in Indianapolis during the cold winter months.

Why can’t those parking lots be developed?

Recently in Oklahoma City there was yet another example of the need for public participation in downtown redevelopment in mid-tier markets.  It doesn’t matter what city.  Downtown Indianapolis has its own current financing decisions to make.  It’s been almost 10 years of parking lots under the old Market Square Arena site.  Now, the largest employer in the state has asked the city to loan it $86M so that it can build on its own parking lots.  It seems in Oklahoma City the economics are not much different.  In these mid-tier markets, the land prices and rents just do not allow new development to pay for itself in the short term.  It is obvious to most observers that it is much cheaper in the short term to build far away from existing infrastructure.  Until it becomes clear what the long term benefits of compact development will be, how they can be valued, and what the trade-offs are going to be in each affected community; there will be parking lots downtown.

Development Niche in China – Lifestyle Centers

I was fortunate to have a very engaging meeting in Shanghai with the CEO of Lifestyle Centre’s in China a few weeks ago.  Regardless of the difficulties of development in the “wild west,” Brian has created a very unique environment not often found in China.  American real estate professionals in American can relate to the old phrase “its always bigger in Texas,” and in China the majority of projects are of mind boggling size and scale, to the point of intimidation for even the largest American developers.   Many projects are so large and so massive, they almost seem fake (even thought the population and the demographics make them very real). 

However, Brian has created a unique neighborhood that feels comfortable, safe and enjoyable as soon as you walk in, a scale that solid developers in America can digest and understand.  Maybe it is just that everything around it is so big, but as you walk in the office space or into the bar/restaurant, you immediately feel as if you are at home.  This is a neighborhood where you know all your neighbors, know the bartender, etc., as well as live work and play.  This is definitely a model and product type that I could see being a huge niche market for LifeStyle centers throughout China, and the entry point for many developers and the development business in China.  It also may be a way for “expats” to enter the market who are often dissuaded by the overly large intimidating structures often found in the Chinese markets.

Milhaus Selected to Provide Real Estate Services to LISC

Milhaus Development has been selected by the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) to assist the Fostering Commercial Urban Strategies (FOCUS) program with revitalization projects in urban areas of Indianapolis.   Milhaus will provide advisory services to help accelerate the progress of meaningful commercial development opportunities and reinvestment in the city’s urban neighborhoods.

“We are excited about the real estate development, finance and marketing expertise that Milhaus brings to the table.  We’ve already seen how it has succeeded in key neighborhood commercial redevelopment projects,” said Bill Taft, executive director, LISC.  “Combined with the hard work of community organizations, this new partnership can create some great wins for our neighborhoods.”

The FOCUS program, which is led by LISC, is an innovative collaboration of the Indianapolis Coalition for Neighborhood Development, the Greater Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce and the City of Indianapolis.  FOCUS already has multiple projects underway within selected neighborhoods and community development corporations, including the East 10th Street project led by the East 10th Street Civic Association, the LISC Sustainable Communities Initiative and the Indianapolis 2012 Super Bowl Legacy Economic Development Committee.

“Milhaus is an avid advocate for revitalization of the urban core of major cities and has already played a large role in the development of the Cole-Noble District on the east side of downtown,” said David Leazenby, vice president, predevelopment services, Milhaus Development. “There is a tremendous opportunity for neighborhoods in Indianapolis to become national examples for urban livability and we are excited that our new real estate services division has been chosen to partner with LISC in its redevelopment efforts.”

Changing Definition of a Credit Tenant

 Steve McLinden stated in his 2006 Shopping Centers Today article, “Once landlords get past the roughly 35 percent of national retailers that ratings agencies dub investment grade, the pickings get slimmer and the credit decisions grow more crucial.”  If the picking got slim after only 35 percent of the national retail stage in 2006, today’s definition of credit is surely an enigma.  This is a troubling fact for the retail and mixed use development industry, as these credit tenants have been the anchors and building blocks allowing the industry to develop, borrow, build. 

So what is a credit tenant today?  Only time will tell!  However, I encourage emphasis be placed on local/regional tenants as a potential “credit” alternative.  Quality local/regional tenants are transparent, hand’s on managers, with strong work ethic and a well thought out business plan.  These tenants often provide products unique to the market, and have integrated networks and relationships not available to national retailers.  Most importantly however are that personal guarantees (a term from history) are often attainable, providing a valuable collection/bargaining chip.  When individuals face losing their home, amazing creatively ensues to produce cash or sales.  The US was founded on the back of small business, and continues to be the driving force of the US market.  If underwritten and managed appropriately, consideration should be given to the local/regional retailer as a replacement for if not the new “credit tenant.”

CEO’s for Cities meets in Indianapolis

Photo by David VanDeman

I was sitting in a ULI meeting last week in DC hearing that Indianapolis is one of the top ten cities with prospects for job growth in the country.  At the same time, there was a group on the ground in Indianapolis taking advantage of the city to study urban livability. Hmmm?  Why did CEO’s for Cities choose such a place?  They call themselves a “civic lab of today’s urban leaders catalyzing a movement to advance the next generation of great American cities.”  That’s a giant challenge, especially when you consider the current economy and you think about this Sprawl Crawl graphic on their website.  In second place in the country, only behind Detroit, the Indianapolis-Carmel metro area spends a hefty amount of time commuting by car.  However, those of us who live here know the city is doing some pretty amazing things recently that must have captured the group’s attention, including the Cultural Trail, the new 100acres at the IMA, the East 10th Street streetscape enhancements, and the many improvements around the city in advance of the Super Bowl in 2012.  We all know this work certainly isn’t for one football game.  According to a recent Indianapolis Business Journal article, the city anticipates growing from 25,000 downtown residents to 40,000 by 2020.  More to the point of the meeting in Indy last week: the CEO’s for Cities has launched an ambitious initiative to redefine the American Dream. Quoting from their website, “The US Initiative imagines opportunity, community, connectivity, livability and optimism as best achieved through good urbanism.”  Considering the recent projects and reports out of Indianapolis, I can see why they made the trip.  With everything going on, maybe Indy is breaking out of its perception as a mid-tier, midwestern market with a shyness about it.  We’ll see.

CityVista DC

Busboys and Poets entrance located behind the public art

You do not have to look very hard in DC to find some good projects.  Check out www.cityvistadc.com for a closer look at this very “mixed” use project.  It’s tenant list almost sounds like the wish list of every downtown in America today.  Grocery Store? Check. Hardware store? Check. Dry Cleaners? Check.  In addition to a bank and and pharmacy, it includes a Starbucks on one side and Busboys and Poets on the other.  Don’t forget the public art.  Check.  As an additional amenity, the project includes a 1-acre park in the middle of the block.  The residential component offers apartments for rent as well as condos for sale.  Today you find many potential residents debating the economics of renting versus buying.  Why not offer both?  (In DC you can get away with that as it seems the recession is over here.) Anyway, it appears the developer, Lowe Enterprises, assembled a terrific team and pulled off a great deal.  More pics below.

ULI Fall Meeting Preview

The Urban Land Institute’s annual Fall Meeting convenes in Washington DC this week.  Milhaus will be there starting tomorrow catching up with friends and colleagues.  The headline for this year’s meeting is “Capitalize on Emerging Opportunities” and it couldn’t me more timely.  It was also a nice coincidence to see this weekend a Richard Florida article about retrofitting suburbia in the Wall Street Journal. In it he highlights the many ways that different cities are realizing the visible effects of the built environment during our changing economy. He finishes it with this:

Historically, America’s economic growth has hinged on its ability to create new development patterns—economic landscapes that simultaneously expand space and intensify our use of it. The rebound after the panic and long depression of 1873 was based on the transition to an urban-industrial economy organized around great cities and their early streetcar suburbs. Our recovery from the Great Depression saw the rise of massive metropolitan complexes of cities and suburbs. Today the challenge is to remake our suburbs, to turn them into more vibrant, livable, people-friendly communities and, in doing so, to make them engines of innovation and productivity.

We’ve talked here before about the state of the economy and the implications for urban development, and you know our outlook. We talk a lot about the promotion of mixed use development being a tool for cities to grow more responsibly and sustainably.  These types of projects are certainly more difficult to implement, but the long term benefits more than make up for it.  The challenge today, of course: what happens when there isn’t much of a market for one of the uses – like when the retail market is facing its greatest challenge since the Depression?   Do we look no farther than evidence of the problem to find the solution?  Certain suburbs and their struggling malls may be the answer.  Stay tuned this week for images and and updates from our nation’s capital.