Day of the Detective

6/23/10

Woke up early, left for Fort Worth, as I really wanted to avoid traffic.  First stop was our site, where I took more photos, doing a better job documenting the building, inside and out.  Mainly I needed a shot of the north (rear) elevation.

I also stopped by Fort Worth south and talked with Mike Brennan about our parking issues and what other options we could do.  My idea of using the garage entrance at the front of the building to park was nixed; zoning in the Near Southside does not allow front entry garages.  Angled parking was also neighed.  So it looks like I will need to contact Park Hill Real Estate Partners to rent out some spaces.

Speaking of Park Hill Real Estate Partners, Mr. Brennan gave me Mr. Fran McCarthy’s information, who is a partner in the company.  I called him and briefed him on what we are trying to do and set up a lunch for Thursday at 11:30 at Cat City Grill.  He seemed taken aback by the idea of residential in that location, in a positive way.

I stopped by the school to print out our pro forma and hopefully talk to the RMP folks upstairs into speaking to our class on the 3^rd, from an operations and management perspective…here’s how that went.  I speak with Gloria, one of the owners of the Santa Fe building.  She says that she and her partner will both be out of town that weekend.  She does give me a number to call, a gentleman by the name of Darrell Higgenbotham at SCM.  I will be looking into him for sure.

As I walk out of Gloria’s office, I see Professor Forgey about to head down the stairs toward his office.  I proceed to harass him.  I also inform him of our progress and the plans I have for the rest of the day in Fort Worth.  We end up doing a little “detective” work, driving around, scoping out sites/properties that we would love to develop or that had the “crap with potential” appeal.  The top was down, so I got a little sun.  I even show him a few that Scott and I had considered for this project and other sites we had found.  What was great about this little excursion with Forgey, was showing him where our current project was located.  Because he had the impression it was in a completely different location.  I think he approves of our location and building a little more now.  J

City Hall, was an interesting place.  I visited HR, inquiring about a job or how to apply.  The process is all online, and jobs are posted on Wednesdays and Fridays.  I crossed the hall and visited the zoning department.  I inquired about 1612 Park Place to see what information I could find and what approvals process I would need to go through.  I think Mike is still a better resource, but I wanted to say that I did consult the powers that be about our site.  The lovely young woman behind the counter wasn’t able to help much, but did get a number for Laura Voltman, in the planning department (I think she is on maternity leave).  After seeing on her computer screen a slight discrepancy in the property lines of the parcel, she suggested that I get a plat from the county just up the street a bit (no time today however).  Upstairs in the planning and historic office I have pleasant chat concerning our project with Vida Hariri, someone who was once in the architecture profession and I believe was subbing for Laura on the Near Southside.  Quite proud, she shows me a lovely rendering she had done for Park Place for Mike.  I tried to have her send me the file, but I was told to get permission from him first.  She also introduces me to James (Jamie) Zwolak, who has extensive knowledge of the historic preservation and tax credit side.  I am glad I came in and now I know where to go for tomorrow’s meeting with Randy Hutcheson.

Wells Fargo was next on my list of places to visit.  Hopefully, I will have better luck than everyone else.  When I go in, the conversation starts with Ryan Couch a commercial lender with Wells Fargo, but his clients are limited to $250,000 in loans.  He takes me across the hall and introduces me to Bob Skrobarcek.  I go through the entire concept again.  Bob then tells me that this is a residential project that is probably geared more for someone in their mortgage department, who Ryan has contact information for.  I give them my information as requested and was told that this mortgage person will be in contact with me.  I walk out of the office pleased for the most part, but the more I think about it, the less likely I feel that anyone is going to contact me.  We’ll see however.

After my meeting with the Wells Fargo folks, I start a little “detective” work of my own.  My main goal was to find developments under construction or recently completed, in order to aid my job search of finding developers.  In the process, I found numerous other sites/buildings/properties that have that certain appeal (to me anyway) for redevelopment.  Of course I make a note of them in and took only a couple of photos, that isn’t my goal, but a nice bonus to my endeavor.  I start in the historic Fairmont neighborhood, over to 8^th, to Berry, to Hulen, to Camp Bowie, to 7^th, parts of downtown, and proceed to try to get lost in Uptown Fort Worth.  This and the earlier “detective” work were probably the highlights of a day filled with accomplishments.