Tag Archives: Waccabuc NY Real Estate

Branstad, MidAmerican officials plan major wind energy announcement | Waccabuc Real Estate

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Officials at MidAmerican Energy Co. and the state of Iowa are set to make a major announcement regarding a new wind energy development.

Gov. Terry Branstad is expected to discuss the project at his morning news conference Monday and release further details with company officials at a 1 p.m. news conference to be held at the Siemens Energy wind blade factory near Fort Madison.

In August MidAmerican Energy received approval from the Iowa Utilities Board for a $1.9 billion project to install hundreds of wind turbines by the end of 2015.

More than 448 turbines are to be installed in Grundy, Madison, Marshall, O’Brien, and Webster counties.

MidAmerican, Iowa’s largest energy company began building wind turbines in 2004, and it currently has more than 1,200 wind turbines in Iowa.

 

 

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/viewart/20131216/BUSINESS/312160051/Branstad-MidAmerican-officials-plan-major-wind-energy-announcement

The Creation Of The Eternal Miami Marine Stadium | Waccabuc Realtor

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The Miami Marine Stadium, designed by Hilario Candela, stands as one of Miami’s most crowning architectural achievements. The stadium undeniably captures the essence of the Miami Modern, or MiMo, architectural style—a term coined by Randall Robinson and Teri D’Amico that describes the adaptation of the International Style of modernism to South Florida’s environment and culture from the end of WWII until the late 1960s. Recently an effort to save the stadium from demolition and restore it has received much attention and support, all in the interest of the enormous architectural and social impact the stadium has had on Miami through its history.

marine%20stadium%202for%20web.jpgPancoast, Ferendino, Skeels, and Burnham’s as built plans of Miami Marine Stadium. 1963. [Courtesy of Hilario Candela]

In 1962 the City of Miami hired the Chicago firm of Ralph H. Burke to master plan a new park on Virginia Key, along the Rickenbacker Causeway. The proposal called for a monumental racecourse for speedboats, similar to Rome’s Circus Maximus but with water. It would include a grandstand on the south side and be open to Biscayne Bay on the northwest end. The project’s total estimated cost: $10 million.

The inclusion of a grandstand and other amenities for a large audience came at a time when boat racing and water skiing were exploding in popularity throughout the country. Amateurs and professionals alike embraced a sport that had once only been accessible to the wealthy who owned yachts or belonged to private clubs. Yet no city in America had an adequate boat racing course. In Miami, the annual Orange Bowl Regatta in December attracted hundreds of spectators and boat entries to the event. However, due to the lack of unprotected and limited space the event also gained public criticism.

The new stadium was to be the world’s first specifically designed for powerboat racing. Though other marine stadiums existed, such as the Long Beach Marine Stadium in California or the Jones Beach Marine Theatre in New York, each was built for either rowing/boat races or musical concerts, respectively. Miami’s new stadium would capitalize on tourism and local revenue with a diverse list of events to be hosted on site including major regattas, shows, and concerts.

To carry out the project the City of Miami hired the Miami-based architectural firm of Pancoast, Feredino, Skeels and Burnham, as well as Dignum Engineers. Dignum’s lead engineer Jack Meyer and Hilario Candela, a young Cuban-born architect from Pancoast, Feredino set out to construct an ambitious concrete wonder.

marine%20stadium%203for%20web.jpgConstruction photos of Miami Marine Stadium. 1963. Photo by Pancoast, Ferendino, Skeels, and Burnham. [Courtesy of Hilario Candela]

The then 27-year old Hilario Candela had a resume of experiences prior to this project that he usefully drew on for the stadium. Candela trained at the Georgia Institute of Technology and his mentors, a group of men that were leading the pathway with concrete structure experimentation, included Italian architect Pier Luigi Nervi, Spanish structural engineer Eduardo Torroja, and Spanish-Mexican architect Félix Candela. After graduation Candela returned to Havana, Cuba where he interned under Max Borges, Jr., designer of the famed Arcos de Cristal at the Tropicana Night Club, and Sáenz, Cancio, Martín, Álvarez and Gutiérrez-the largest firm in Havana at the time. It was here that Candela was introduced to thin-shell concrete construction and expressive rooflines. Coming to Miami to join Pancoast, Feredino, Skeels and Burnham, Candela’s first project was to construct a series of buildings for the first campus of Miami Dade College—something he continued for 30 years.

 

http://miami.curbed.com/archives/2013/12/09/marine-stadium-marvin-aguilar.php

 

Nation’s home recovery may be on shaky ground | Waccabuc Real Estate

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Concerns are rising that the nation’s year-long revival in residential housing might be facing an uncertain future. The latest publication to tackle the issue was none other than the venerable Economist, which had this to say:

What effect will this slowdown will have on builders? Previous busts have taught them to control the inventory of new properties coming to the market. If they react abruptly to falling sales by building less, the housing market may be “on the verge of a significant correction”, argues Ian Shepherdson of Pantheon Macroeconomics. Although residential construction is only 3% of GDP, in each of the past five quarters it has contributed around a quarter of America’s economic growth.

                    Source: The Economist

Most Popular Manhattan Rental Listings Of The Last Week | Waccabuc Real Estate

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Yesterday we rounded up the top 10 most expensive rental listings in the city, but those places aren’t exactly where most of the city’s renters are looking. So today, we are looking at the top 10 most popular Manhattan rental listings of the past week, according to data from StreetEasy. The listings, which were sorted by the number of pageviews, highlight that everyone is always searching for the best deal—the most expensive unit on this list is a $3,000/month two-bedroom.

↑10) 32 East 7th Street, East Village The listing for this two-bedroom makes no mention of a living room, and judging by the photos, there may not be one. The kitchen is small, and one of the bedrooms is a super weird shape, but it’s just $2,350.

↑ 9) 402 East 78th Street, Upper East Side A no-fee 1BR/1BA near First Avenue is listed for $1,895, and the photos looks pretty great, but the place has been sitting on the market for more than two months. The price was also recently reduced by $155, and there’s a free month of rent, so it seems like there’s something wrong with the place that’s not evident in the listing.

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↑ 8) 226 West 16th Street, Chelsea There are no photos of this 600-square-foot 1BR apartment, which is never a good sign, but the price, $1,995, has obviously attracted attention. The listing says the unit is rent-stabilized and has a full kitchen, but it also says the rent is $2266.52.

↑ 7) 322 West 11th Street, West Village Possibly the nicest unit on this list is this 2BR/1BA asking $3,000 per month. The kitchen is small, but there are high ceilings and both bedrooms can fit a queen-sized bed.

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↑ 6) 551 West 165th Street, Washington Heights For just $925/month, there’s a furnished studio next to the Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center. The brokerbabble describes the building as “immaculate, secure and very safe,” but the place looks like a hotel room in the photos.

↑ 5) 10 Jones Street, West Village If this listing for a $2,200/month one-bedroom in the West Village seems too good to be true, that’s because it is. It’s actually just for a bedroom in a 2BR/1BA duplex apartment that has 16′ ceilings and exposed brick walls. The photos were taken at nighttime, which always makes apartments, no matter how nice they are, look like a scene from a horror movie.

↑ 4) 251 West 15th Street, Chelsea Between 7th and 8th Avenues, there’s a small duplex asking $1,680/month. The kitchen is teeny, with a half-sized refrigerator, and the sleeping loft looks like it’s only about 4-feet high.

 

 

 

 

http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2013/11/20/the_most_popular_manhattan_rental_listings_of_the_last_week.php

A Bubble in Rising Texas Markets? | Waccabuc Real Estate

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Trulia, the national real-estate data-crunching outfit, has been maintaining a “bubble watch” since May, 2013, tracking local markets where home prices are rising fast enough that the dollar signs threaten to outrun the “market fundamentals.” This week, Trulia’s bubble watch list puts four Texas metropolitan areas in its top ten, including the coastal markets of Houston and San Antonio.

Trulia chief economist, Jed Kolko, reports on the organization’s data in Forbes: “At the metro level, home prices are above their fundamental value in 17 of the 100 largest metros. Most of these overvalued metros are only slightly so: Of the 17 overvalued metros, just two–Orange County and Los Angeles–look at least 10% overvalued. (Austin rounds up to 10% but is actually slightly below.) Several California metros also stand out for having both overvalued prices AND sharp price increases, including Orange County, Los Angeles, Oakland, and Riverside-San Bernardino.” (For the full story, see “Trulia: Home Prices Are Simmering, Not Bubbling.”)

The Houston market, according to the Trulia report, is presently overvalued by 6% after rising 13.9% in the past year. San Antonio, the report says, is overvalued by 4% after rising by 11.1%.

Those numbers don’t qualify those cities for bubble status, even by Trulia’s reckoning—somewhat arbitrarily, Trulia reserves the “bubble” label for areas where it considers the prices to be more than 10% above what Trulia believes justified by underlying demand and production. But even so, Texans are taking exception to the inclusion of three Texas cities on the top ten list. Market watcher Steve Cook notes the controversy on his Real Estate Economy Watch blog (for Cook’s full post, see “Smile when you say ‘bubble,’ mister“).

“Dr. James Gaines, an economist with the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University, responded that concerns about a price bubble in Texas’ housing markets are overblown,” writes Cook. “He said some of the recent increases are just making up for several years in the recession when Texas home prices were declining or flat.”

 

 

http://www.jlconline.com/home-prices/a-bubble-in-rising-texas-markets-.aspx

Fed needs to detect asset bubbles when they’re forming | Waccabuc Real Estate

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Janet Yellen, vice chair of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, appeared every bit the monetary policy dove that investors expected during her first big hearing in front of the Senate Banking Committee as Fed Chair nominee.

Yellen reiterated her approach to Fed policy, showing a commitment to using the low federal funds rate and the ongoing $85 billion in monthly asset purchases to drive an economic recovery. The fed views economic success against the backdrop of two key indicators — unemployment and price stability.

Yellen eschewed suggestions from Senators that a souped up market – driven by recent Fed asset purchases and low interest rates – has caused a new bubble to inflate in areas such as housing.

“The Fed needs to detect asset bubbles when they are forming,” Yellen said. “By and large, I would say I don’t see evidence at this point of asset price misalignments at a level that would threaten financial stability.”

Yellen went on to ensure Senators that the Fed has a variety of tools at its disposal to pull back aggressive monetary policies should price misalignments or other issues surface.

The nominee then pointed to the housing market as a primary beneficiary of Fed policies.

 

 

 

http://www.housingwire.com/articles/27966-yellen-fed-needs-to-detect-asset-bubbles-when-theyre-forming

Experts mull over housing bubble expectations | Waccabuc Real Estate

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Despite rapid increases in home prices over the past year, prices are 4% undervalued in the fourth quarter — meaning the market is nowhere near another housing bubble, Trulia (TRLA) claims in a new report.

To put it into perspective, prices were as much as 39% overvalued in the first quarter of 2008 — at the height of the bubble — then dropped to being 15% undervalued in the fourth quarter of 2011, the real estate firm says.

“If prices nationally are 4% undervalued, why are so many people worried that a new bubble is forming,” questioned Trulia chief economist Jed Kolko.

He added, “Because prices have risen quickly over the past year, and even with the recent slowdown in the past few months, rising prices stoke bubble fear.”

In October, asking prices were up 11.7% year-over-year, which is roughly the same sharp increases seen in 2004 when the housing bubble was inflating.

Consequently, some market analysts believe that housing is in the depths of a bubble.

Given the fact that home prices are rising faster than real median household income as well as mortgage purchase applications, it signals the same factors experienced in the previous housing bubble, explained George Mason University finance professor Anthony Sanders.

“For the average American household, they are in a housing bubble,” he said. “For Chinese and other domestics and foreign investors, house prices are a bargain.”

 

 

http://www.housingwire.com/articles/27950-experts-mull-over-housing-bubble-expectations

Westchester pol considers challenging Cuomo | Waccabuc Real Estate

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Newly re-elected Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, a Republican, paid a surprise visit to the all Democratic Somos El Futuro gathering of state politicians in Puerto Rico last week, delivering an address in fluent Spanish and impressing many who were there.

Gov. Cuomo, by contrast, skipped the event, disappointing many and reinforcing his image as aloof from, and even contemptuous of, his fellow Democrats.

Astorino’s visit wasn’t by accident. The Post has learned that he told several aides and key fund-raisers in recent weeks that if he won last week’s election by a comfortable margin, he would “seriously consider” challenging Cuomo next year.

He won by a landslide in a heavily Democratic county within the critical New York City media market, and challenging Cuomo is exactly what he said he is considering in an expansive telephone interview with The Post from Puerto Rico.

“I am considering it right now. I have to consider it,’’ declared Astorino. “New York is hemorrhaging jobs, I think we just went from 49th to 50th in terms of a bad business climate. We’re going in the wrong direction.

“I feel New York is fundamentally out of balance right now with extraordinarily high taxes, a terrible regulatory climate and an explosion of Medicaid and pension costs that is really killing counties, local governments and school districts. There have to be some fundamental changes going forward,’’ he added.

Astorino has been working on developing a range of policy positions that would be important in a statewide race for governor.

He said, for instance, that if he did become governor, he would move to create thousands of private-sector jobs by approving “with proper restrictions’’ drilling for natural gas — known as “fracking’’ — in the economically hard-pressed Southern Tier, something Cuomo, facing threats from radical environmentalists, has refused to do for three years, despite promises that he would.

Astorino did credit Cuomo with “baby steps’’ to improve the state’s economic picture during his first year in office.

And he conceded that the governor, who is popular with all but upstate voters, would be difficult to beat, saying, “He’s certainly the prohibitive favorite.’’

 

 

 

 

http://nypost.com/2013/11/11/westchester-pol-considers-challenging-cuomo-for-governors-seat/