Park Merced: Cutting Edge Plans - Organic Farms, Share Bikes and More

Parkmerced is in for a long term redevelopment that is designed to change our definition of neighborhood living. Its nothing short of a game changing attitude adjustment. Its a long-term project (20-30 years) involving new buildings, community living and public transportation improvements.

Mending The Earth
One Development At a Time

Renew the Watershed Area
Parkmerced is a watershed area draining into Lake Merced, that was developed without consideration of its of its ecological importance. The new development vision is to regenerate the watershed and create a socially sustainable neighborhood. The stream corridor will draw native wildlife back to the lake area. Landscaping will use only native/wildlife friendly plants  to minimize water consumption and to provide food and shelter for wildlife. Rainwater flows will recharge Lake Merced and underground aquifers, including a new stream corridor, ponds and wetlands which will filter rainwater before discharging into Lake Merced.

New Wetlands
The landscape will create a variety of green zones including wetlands, coastal woodlands, and meadows. Parkmerced will become an ecologically sustainable neighborhood where urban and natural systems  are mutually supportive.

Ecologically Smart
The new Parkmerced will include both rental and for-sale housing that will be woven in and about parks, trails, and public spaces to encourage walking and other outdoor activities. Parks and recreation spaces will be set in public open spaces, and neighborhood Commons all Linked into an ecologically connected network.

Organic Farms
Parkmerceds southern edge will house a Community Center offering residents fitness and wellness programs. West of the Community Center, an organic farm, 2- to 3- acres large,  will provide a local food source.  Fruits and vegetables grown will be for sale at the local grocery store and farmer’s markets.

Green Transportation
Share Bicycles
A number of bike share centers will be available throughout Parkmerced. Residents will be able to borrow bicycles to get to work or just for a leisurely ride through the parks and trails.

The M line
Each Parkmerced resident makes about 6 vehicle trips per day.  Parkmerced developers in a city partnership  will reroute the M-Ocean View Muni to make three  stops within the complex. People will be able to walk along fresh streams and trails or use share bicycles to Muni reducing auto use.

Green Buildings Too
Parkmerced will utilize green building envelopes, including  solar, wind and cogeneration facilities , producing some of Parkmerced’s energy.

Water
Collecting rainwater runoff  will help restore the natural water shed that Park Merced is built on.. Even rainwater flowing from rooftops will be collected and returned to the natural water systems that flow to Lake Merced. The annual volume of water for irrigation is expected to decrease from roughly 55 million gallons of potable water per year to just over 30 million gallons of recycled and/or grey water.

Use of low flow toilets, sinks, shower heads, and laundry machines in both new and existing units and the use of recycled and/or grey water, is expected to bring down the individual resident to 38 gallons  per day. Estimates vary, but average usage falls between 575 and 120 gallons per capita. Part of San Franciscos dream to be a leader in how to better live in harmony with everything.  Gotta love this city!

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San Francisco Apartment Rent Recovery

San Francisco investment properties are bottoming. According to Jay Greenberg, in an SFAA magazine article, San Francisco has seen positive sales numbers this year. Rent rates have also been getting stronger in the city. Im a firm believer that well paying jobs and the reverse commute busses provided by the tech sector, are a big part of why rentals are up and property is on the rebound.

Greenberg points out that interest rates are low, rent rates are increasing and cash flows are improving. Following is a synopsis of Greenbergs review of apartment sales:
Chart Source National Real estate Investor

5-9 units
The slide in this sector seems to have stabilized. Price per sqft is $271 this year vs. $376 in 2008. Deal flow for the first three quarters of 2010 is 61 compared to 57 in 2008.

10 Plus
Average price per sqft in 2010 is $256 donw from $347 in 2008. The good news here is that the deal flow has increased to 65 for the first three quarters up from 32 last year.

The San Francisco apartment sector is benefiting from pent-up demand, declining homeownership, and a limited supply of new development. Nationally, 70 million potential renters, the echo boomers, are expected to enter the renter pool for apartments. Something like 3.2 million renters, aged 20-34, will be looking for a place to rent between now and 2012.

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Multi Famiily Rentals Improve

The demographics

Renter demographics
Who Are They

People Needing Flexibility
Renting can provide more flexibility, greater convenience and lower costs than buying a home. As a result, certain households are more likely to rent than own, including young singles starting out, families relocating to a new metropolitan area, recent immigrants to the United States, and low-income household

In Transition
such as a change in job or marital status. For example, over 60 percent of households that moved in 2003 because of divorce or separation chose to live in a rented unit.

Relocating
For owners who are relocating, rental housing can be a good option if they expect to move again within a few years.

Immigrants
When birth rates among the native born population fell sharply after the baby boom, many feared that rental demand would drop off precipitously. But thanks to the strength of immigration, the number of renter households remained steady through the 1990s and early 2000s as foreign-born households supplemented the rental demand of native-born households. The arrival of young foreign-born households thus tempered the decline in renters aged 25–34 from 20 percent to 12 percent, and in renters aged 35–44 from 18 percent to 7 percent over the 1994–2004 period. Indeed, without these immigrants, the total number of renters would have fallen by more than 2 million (5 percent), rather than rising modestly by 100,000.

Retirees Moving Back
 As the baby boom population ages and their children leave home, some will opt for moving out of their homes and into apartments that require less upkeep and allow them the freedom to do what they want.They fit into he category of lifestyle renters.  Not wanting or needing the cost and obligations of home ownership and choosing the mobility that comes with the lesser commitment of renting, expect a lot of retirees coming back into citys for ease of access to theater, larger communities of like interests and excitement not available in suburbs.

Echo Boomers
National Association of Housing Builders chief economist believes that 83 million echo boomers will enter residential renter market and lead the demand for apartment units over the next few years, approximately 3.2 million between 2010 and 2012. This demographic trend coupled with a strong immigration trends will drive apartment fundamentals. This housing crash happens in the formative years of this population. Will the bias towards home ownership still hold or will echo boomers, raised during this crises, hold a bias towards renting over ownership.

Its clear that rental property will have a brighter future and likely to recover first. The caveat here is that jobs will be a determining factor. If job growth is meager then echo boomers may stay home longer or double up as roommates.

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The Bay Institute Aquarium Foundation

Aquarium of the Bay

A commercial enterprise that never made money is about to become a non profit. The deal has been consummated and now fully owned by The Bay Institute Aquarium Foundation.

The $9.5 million deal means the 65,000-square-foot aquarium at Pier 39 will become a non profit center for education and research of the San Francisco Bay ecosystem. Impressive that a deal made in tough economic times, took a tourist trap and turned it into a community asset.

Its now a nature center dedicated to the conservation of the San Francisco Bay. The defunct commercial enterprise still attracts 600,000 visitors a year and now this population will support sustainable research to keep the bay a flourishing and healthy living resource for all of us.

The Aquarium is a huge endeavor, it is 50,000 square feet of exhibition space, including 300 feet of acrylic tunnels holding more than 700,000 gallons of filtered bay water. 20,000 marine life including sharks, bat rays and eels. You can take walking tour through the acrylic tunnels and see marine life all around you. Quite cool.

Partnering up with Monterrey Bay Aquarium, UC Davis and the California Department of Fish and Game, the aquarium will work on fish breeding and aging studies. New programs including a lecture series, marine workshops, tagging and tracking programs, exhibits, classes on pollution, freshwater diversions, fish contamination and species sustainability. This was supported by private loans, donations and municipal bond money......Thank you San Francisco.

Howard Bell

Your Property Path
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MORTGAGE RATES RISE ON POSITIVE ECONOMIC NEWS

NEWS REPORTED DURING THE WEEK

30-year fixed-rate mortgage: Averaged 4.84 percent with an average 0.7 point for the week ending May 7, 2009, up from last week when it averaged 4.78 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 6.05 percent.

The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage: Averaged 4.51 percent with an average 0.7 point, up from last week when it averaged 4.48 percent. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 5.60 percent.
Five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid ARMs: Averaged 4.90 percent this week, with an average 0.6 point, up from last week when it averaged 4.80 percent. A year ago, the 5-year ARM averaged 5.67 percent.

One-year Treasury-indexed ARMs: Averaged 4.78 percent this week with an average 0.6 point, up from last week when it averaged 4.77 percent. At this time last year, the 1-year ARM averaged 5.29 percent.

Freddie Says

Mortgage rates rose slightly this week amid positive economic news that the economy may be approaching the bottom of the recession, said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist. In terms of the household sector, the final April estimate of consumer sentiment, as measured by the University of Michigan, was revised above the market consensus. On the business side, the ISM Manufacturing Index for April also exceeded market expectations.

In addition, the positive news was corroborated by Fed Chairman Bernanke when he stated that he expects economic activity to bottom out, then to turn up later this year. He also noted that the housing market is beginning to stabilize. For instance, pending existing home sales rose for the second consecutive time in March and represented the first back-to-back monthly increase since March 2008. Furthermore, in its April 2009 Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey, the Federal Reserve found the demand for prime mortgages rose for the first time since April 2007 when it first began collecting such detailed mortgage data.

Thanks for Reading

Howard Bell
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San Francisco Remembers 1906

This is the Anniversary of the 06 Earthquake

The Exploratorium will display a large-scale Jell-O model of San Francisco for just one day, Jell-O doesn't last long.

Firefighters will host a costume ball where the best bustled skirts, top hats and other turn-of-the-century clothes win prizes.

1906 Great Earthquake and Fire Exposition at Pier 48 is sponsored by the San Francisco Fire Department Historical Society

1906 Earthquake and Fire Parade. April 18, 10 a.m. The parade begins at City Hall and proceeds down Market Street

And, of course....Lottas Fountain

Every April 18, 4:30-5:30 a.m. Market Street, at Kearny, Third and Geary streets a meeting in remembrance of those lost and found at Lottas fountain is replicated. Its the centerpiece of the city's events and a true memorial to those who came before us.

After the earthquake in 1906, the fountain, one of the few structures still standing on Market Street, became a central meeting place for San Franciscans. People gathered round Lottas fountain to meet and find friends and family. Notes and messages were left in the hopes of rejoining loved ones.

In celebration of San Francisco's 1906 earthquake, a few survivors, the mayor and San Franciscans in period costumes will sing, from the heart, a not so perfect rendition of the song "San Francisco"....

Howard Bell

Your Property Path
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Your Property Path News Brief
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Green is the New Black

EPAa and California Energy Commission fund an innovative pilot project to turn waste-only brown grease into bio fuel. The program is an extension of the SFGreasecycle program that since 2007 has been collecting used cooking oil and recycling it into bio diesel for its own fleet.

FOG

In addition to providing a renewable fuel source, the diversion of Fats, Oils, and Grease (FOG) helps save money by reducing grease blockages in San Francisco sewers. Half of of all sewer emergencies are grease related costs the City $3.5 million a year.

Brown grease is the mix of used oils and food scrapings that flow from our homes and restaurants and is not being recycled. The city has a free collection program for restaurants that will provide the basis of new fuel.

The new bio diesel plant will be constructed at the Oceanside Treatment Plant next near the zoo. It's the first of its kind to combine sewage treatment and generate alternative energy sources:

1. High-grade, road-worthy certified bio diesel for vehicles
2. Lower grade boiler fuel for running sewage treatment plant equipment.
3. Converted methane to run the treatment plant

If we can provide fuel for city fleets and run sewerage plants with recaptured brown grease, experts think we could save 3% three percent of the nation’s electrical consumption. Treatments plants run 24 x 7. Each plant upgrade is expected to cost about a million, making this truly cost effective. What is really cool is that San Francisco has been chosen to build the template for the country. A tool box of recycling methodology that could be copied by other cities.

San Francisco has been relatively sheltered from the economic downturn compared to the rest of the state. We have been blessed to near Berkeley and Stanford and Silicon Valley and those Google buses that allow Silicon Valley workers to work there and live here. As Lenard Cohen writes: we got the machinery and the verse.
Thanks for Reading

Howard Bell

Your Property Path
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Your Property Path News Brief
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