Harrison Park Development – News & Updates

[jbcmh81]

bucki12 said:
It looks like Columbus might be losing some of the affordability that retains and attracts YP’s. I am hoping my WP landlord is not reading this thread.

Based on? It seems like the prices at some places are high, but I have to think that is, at least in part, due to more demand than supply, and that prices should stabilize or come down some when current/planned projects are completed. Also, let’s face facts, these are high demand areas. If they think they can get these places rented at those prices, and if there is a segment of the population willing to pay, then more power to them. However, Columbus is very affordable on a national scale. It ranks somewhere in the top 20 of affordable cities nationally, including with housing.

[surber17]

@peter … wow, its only been 3 years since i rented a one bedroom; I guess I didn’t realize prices went up so much (I paid 900/month for Arena Crossing)

[jbcmh81]

Walker said:
If rents were dropping, I’m sure you’d tell us it’s a bad thing too. ;)

Of course. There is no actual winning.

[InnerCore]

peter said:
They are asking for a 33% raise over a normal luxury one bedroom in other prime locations.

No, that’s dead-on for downtown, arena district, and premium SN apartments. For example: http://www.flatsonvine.com/columbus/flats-on-vine-apartments/

But you’ve got to admit that the Vines is a much better location. If you were the property manager at Vines and this building at Harrison West in an inferior location fills up and gets rents the same as your building wouldn’t you push rents higher?

[jbcmh81]

InnerCore said:
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I agree that nationally people are renting more and moving back to urban areas creating a situation where rents are rising. This keeps me in business because we buy/develop in apartments at my day job.

But not all cities are going to bear the burden of these changes equally. First you have income growth and job growth:

http://www.multifamilyexecutive.com/apartment-trends/2013-job-growth-and-rental-revenue-projections.aspx

Last year, the West was the best. The only cities to break the 3 percent increase mark were San Francisco and San Jose, Calif., as well as Austin, Fort Worth and Houston, Texas. The lone surprise on the East Coast was Charlotte, which ended 2012 with a 3.1 percent increase in annual relative job growth from the previous year.

Then the next issue you have is new development. New development acts as sort of a check and balance on existing assets. I’ll give you an example. We are looking at purchasing a property in Austin for about $105k per unit. But you can develop in the area pretty cheap at around $110k per unit. And we know there is a lot of new development in the pipeline. So the new product is essentially acting as a ceiling to what we can do. We cant raise rents as much as we like because then you’d have to compete against brand new and nicer product. And the new developments cant price much higher because they have plenty of new product to compete with. Again it goes back to supply and demand. The demand is high nationally, but the supply is only up the core markets.

Here are number to highlight my point;

Columbus
21,928 Total Yearly Population Change
1,100 Projected Completions in 2013
5% Completions as Percentage of Population Change

Charlotte
37,434 Total Yearly Population Change
3,500 Projected Completions in 2013
9.4% Completions as Percentage of Population Change

Austin
67,230 Total Yearly Population Change
9,000 Projected Completions in 2013
13.4% Completions as Percentage of Population Change

Indianapolis
22,327 Total Yearly Population Change
1,600 Projected Completions in 2013
7.2% Completions as Percentage of Population Change

Even Indianapolis is doing a better job at keeping pace.

Here is a current development map for Austin:

It’s probably a little hard to see but the yellow dots are projects currently under construction. There are 62 of them. With another 7 project approved (green). The blue projects are have been submitted and the purple projects are ones that are just proposed with nothing formal submitted yet.

So you can see they are not just building downtown but all over the city. And many of their more suburban developments are just as dense if not more dense and walkable then what we are building downtown. So while they’re building many urban walkable neighborhoods in both urban and suburban areas some of which are also affordable, we are building only a select few projects only in urban areas that only a select few are going to be able to afford.

So our more affordable new projects are ones like 600 Goodale that really aren’t walkable. And I’m glad they’re building 600 Goodale, there needs to be a lot more development in these areas. I just wish they layed it out differently and maybe added a couple of small retail spaces.

Here is a breakdown of a cost of living index for these areas:

Columbus
91.2 Overall
92.8 Grocery
77.1 Housing
101.5 Utilities
101.6 Transportation
100.5 Health Care
95.5 Misc. Goods and Services

Austin
93.3 Overall
88.7 Grocery
84.4 Housing
97.2 Utilities
101.2 Transportation
106.4 Health Care
97.7 Misc. Goods and Services

Charlotte
92.6 Overall
103 Grocery
81 Housing
90.5 Utilities
97.3 Transportation
100.2 Health Care
96.8 Misc. Goods and Services

As you can see they are all pretty close in terms of the overall index. The biggest difference is the advantage Columbus has in housing. Housing is also one of the largest components of the index. Any movement in the spread on housing and Columbus quickly becomes more expensive.

So in these other markets because of the demand, availability of financing, national investor/developers, etc. you’ll probably get overbuilding at some point. And a few investors/developers will probably get burned. But it works out in the benefit of the city because the result is more affordable housing. Now compare that to here where no one is willing to take the risk and build residential anywhere other than the best locations that will attract the highest rents.

You continue to post all this without any context. I ask again, is Columbus the only city of these with rising rents? What about other costs? Are prices rising faster in Columbus than elsewhere, keeping pace, or rising more slowly? Is Columbus actually losing any real competitive position, or is it merely holding steady relative to other places? Nowhere have I seen those questions answered, and without them, simply posting current COL figures means very little, especially when they show the city already has an overall lower COL than the places you regularly promote.

[peter]

wow, its only been 3 years since i rented a one bedroom; I guess I didn’t realize prices went up so much (I paid 900/month for Arena Crossing)

Yup! It has increased dramatically in this area. It is startling even to me.

But you’ve got to admit that the Vines is a much better location. If you were the property manager at Vines and this building at Harrison West in an inferior location fills up and gets rents the same as your building wouldn’t you push rents higher?

Of course I would.

But you’re arguing against something I didn’t actually say. I was refuting the claim that the stated rent was 33% higher than prime locations (it isn’t). I don’t deny that the rent sounds high for that particular location. You have a habit of not actually addressing the things people say, instead addressing what you think they might be saying.

[InnerCore]

peter said:
But you’re arguing against something I didn’t actually say. I was refuting the claim that the stated rent was 33% higher than prime locations (it isn’t). I don’t deny that the rent sounds high for that particular location. You have a habit of not actually addressing the things people say, instead addressing what you think they might be saying.

I seemed to missed where my response was actually arguing with yours. I didn’t disagree with anything you said.

You highlighted that Harrison West rents were in line with better prime locations and didn’t make the distinction. I just highlighted that point. A simple “Yeah, I agree” would have sufficed.

[peter]

Sorry, I interpreted your “But, you’ve got to admit…” as arguing with what I said, which I guess that wasn’t the case. No worries, sounds like we’re in agreement all around.

[Urban Living]

More information on Floor Plans and Pricing, here:

One Bedroom Units

Two Bedroom Units

[Urban Living]

Listings have been updated today with interior photos of model units:

One Bedroom Units

Two Bedroom Units

[Walker Evans]

While this building isn’t the flashiest in town, I’m a fan of how it came together. Modern exterior and quite dense for being buried deep in a neighborhood away from commercial corridors. Would love to see the same thing replicated in other parts of town.

NEW PHOTOS, HERE: https://www.columbusunderground.com/construction-roundup-april-2013-part-2

[Walker Evans]

These are looking all done on the outside. A like how this little narrow street in the heart of the neighborhood is now flanked with 3/4 story buildings on each side.

MORE PHOTOS: https://www.columbusunderground.com/construction-roundup-june-2013

[columbus joe]

The floorplans look great. Do you know how fully rented this building is?

[heresthecasey]

Wagenbrenner is preparing to move forward with the final phase of their Harrison Park development in Harrison West. 24 townhouse units will be constructed on the lot at the corner of 2nd Ave and Harrison Park Pl.

Plans and an elevation rendering are available in a pdf here, http://harrisonwest.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Harrison%20Park%20Development%2014_0109.pdf

[News]

Jul 24, 2014, 2:24pm EDT
Wagenbrenner sells Harrison Park Apartments to Nebraska investor
Brian R. Ball
Staff reporter – Columbus Business First

Columbus multifamily developer Wagenbrenner Development has sold off a recently minted apartment complex in the Short North’s Harrison West neighborhood to an Omaha, Nebraska-based apartment investor and developer.

READ MORE: http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2014/07/24/wagenbrenner-sells-harrison-park-apartments-to.html

[Author]

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