Steve Brown is the real estate editor of the Dallas Morning News. Today he wrote an article about the development of warehouse space in the DFW area. He says it's booming.........to the point he's worried about it. He reports that 18 million square feet of space is under development. However, only 25% of that space is "spoken for," presumably he means leased. I agree with him. It's been a great market, but let's not get too crazy. Making monthly payments on an empty building is not fun.
On the same page, Brown wrote an article about 2,000 new apartment units to be built in the old Farmer's Market area. This note further emphasizes the need for residential housing. Previously, he reported on meetings held by area towns for the purpose of mobilizing to provide housing for Toyota and other new corporate re-locations that are on their way here. It's my understanding that Rowlett sends no representation to those meetings. Apparently, we didn't know about them. How?!! I knew about them. I don't have any special connections. I learned about these meetings from typical media sources. Doesn't anyone read the paper in city hall?
These articles agitated some old wounds. I'm sitting here remembering the meeting whereby our consultants were adamant about adopting a zoning plan whereby North Shore would become an industrial park for Office and Warehouse space. Of course, this is on a toll way with no access. We are developing an apartment project downtown that the city reports a $6 million investment and I can count $11 million in costs, plus a new $775,000 that no one knows where it goes. We have missed meetings in which Plano is pleading for area towns to step up and provide housing for Toyota employees, and Rowlett turns down residential developments in North Shore. Theses developments were presented by two of the better developers in the metroplex, and in the most likely place to put them. There was superb thought behind the proposals. We have P&Z and City Council members that think the consultant's zoning opinions are chipped into granite, hauled down from highest point in Dallas County (probably Cedar Hill) and presented to City Council by a bearded gentleman in a long white robe. These people consider the consultant's opinion (reflecting our previous city manager's wishes) as inviolate and near godlike in origin.
I think about this and I can only shake my head. I feel like some local yokel standing around wondering what happened............and the city slickers left town with all the money. I'm a sailor, too. I wonder how well I could navigate if I didn't have a rudder. And, we have a long way to go without a rudder. Better start looking for one.
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On the same page, Brown wrote an article about 2,000 new apartment units to be built in the old Farmer's Market area. This note further emphasizes the need for residential housing. Previously, he reported on meetings held by area towns for the purpose of mobilizing to provide housing for Toyota and other new corporate re-locations that are on their way here. It's my understanding that Rowlett sends no representation to those meetings. Apparently, we didn't know about them. How?!! I knew about them. I don't have any special connections. I learned about these meetings from typical media sources. Doesn't anyone read the paper in city hall?
These articles agitated some old wounds. I'm sitting here remembering the meeting whereby our consultants were adamant about adopting a zoning plan whereby North Shore would become an industrial park for Office and Warehouse space. Of course, this is on a toll way with no access. We are developing an apartment project downtown that the city reports a $6 million investment and I can count $11 million in costs, plus a new $775,000 that no one knows where it goes. We have missed meetings in which Plano is pleading for area towns to step up and provide housing for Toyota employees, and Rowlett turns down residential developments in North Shore. Theses developments were presented by two of the better developers in the metroplex, and in the most likely place to put them. There was superb thought behind the proposals. We have P&Z and City Council members that think the consultant's zoning opinions are chipped into granite, hauled down from highest point in Dallas County (probably Cedar Hill) and presented to City Council by a bearded gentleman in a long white robe. These people consider the consultant's opinion (reflecting our previous city manager's wishes) as inviolate and near godlike in origin.
I think about this and I can only shake my head. I feel like some local yokel standing around wondering what happened............and the city slickers left town with all the money. I'm a sailor, too. I wonder how well I could navigate if I didn't have a rudder. And, we have a long way to go without a rudder. Better start looking for one.
.
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