Sacramento: 301 Capitol Mall: A New Plan for The Towers Site

[Los_Lobo]

I was talking to a fellow at the job site today and asked when they stop driving piles in and he said they stop when they get over 50 blows/foot. They'll come back later and cut the tops off the ones left sticking out. He also said they were half done with the pile driving. After all the piles are driven for the 2 towers, then they'll start driving piles for the podium. I told him to put a couple extra piles in Tower I.......

[ltsmotorsport]

Originally Posted by Los_Lobo

I told him to put a couple extra piles in Tower I.......

That would be greeeaaaat......

[brandon12]

Ha!

[kenratboy]

LOL, maybe the best movie ever?

[william]

I worked at Lennar Communities for several years. At one of our typical rah-rah session division meetings, senior management played a cleaned-up version of Office Space. Those of us who had seen it started looking at each other with "Has anyone in senior management actually watched this movie?" looks on our faces. By the end, no one could laugh because we all realized we were no longer laughing at characters on the screens, we were laughing at people (our bosses) in the room. It was a scream. Gary Cole's character had to have been based on our VP Operations. He finished every inane request with "that'd be great." After that movie, every PM started working that phrase into every presentation to senior management. They still do and I hear he still sits there with his blank expression and then asks some idiotic question that has nothing to do with the presentation. Oh god, I'm laughing as I write this just thinking about it. What a great movie.

[mechanico]

http://sacramento.bizjournals.com/sa...366400^1357317

[bennywah]

^
that was already posted in the aura thread in highrises and the sacramento approvals ect thread in the califorum.

[mechanico]

^I just thought it was interesting.I hoped to spawn a discussion on just how rapidly the real estate market is changing.

A short while ago, I posted the following comment, on this thread.

Originally Posted by mechanico

"

I expect the cost of material to drop with the decreased demand and decreasing energy cost. Though steel is being sucked up, like crazy, by China it's price should drop as coal and oil prices drop. Concrete prices should fall off significantly, as the bulk of it's cost is in the energy it takes to produce it.
While alot of these projects don't pencil out now, they may by next summer.

I don't think material cost was the reason DR Horton killed there project though. DR Horton is too large of a company, they have to have hedges against rising material cost. DR Horton is simply overexposed to the real estate slowdown with new home developements sitting empty. The company failed, not the project!

Saca asked the city for $11 million a month ago. He cited rising material cost had cut into his budget. He questioned whether he would make any money at all on the project. We are now expecting material cost to go down. Wild times for real estate!

[brandon12]

Props to Mechanico- you may be on to something. I hope so...

[Majin]

"Developer Craig Nassi says construction of his closely watched high-rise condominium project in downtown Sacramento will start by the end of the year"

Wow, thats EXACTLY what they said last year at this time.

[brandon12]

Majin, do you think you could do a better job than Nassi in developing 601? If you do, you should give high-rise condo development a try somewhere else in DT. I promise that I will buy the most expensive unit in your building, assuming you give me a $1,000 credit on my down payment. Good luck, and please keep me posted on your progress!

[snfenoc]

I do not think Majin ever said he could do better than Nassi. I think the point of his post was to question whether the "end of the year" promise has any substance. Personally, I think it does, but I understand Majin's "We've heard this all before" attitude.

[brandon12]

^I know. We just have to remember that we're talking about the wacky world of high-rise real estate development. This is hardly the first building ever to experience delays with construction. I was just trying to illustrate that point.

[POGO]

Originally Posted by brandon12

^I know. We just have to remember that we're talking about the wacky world of high-rise real estate development. This is hardly the first building ever to experience delays with construction. I was just trying to illustrate that point.

I'm glad you clarified that, becuz until you did, I thought you were just trying to ridicule Majin. I don't see how your snide comment about a $1,000 credit helps illustrate the point about delays. But if you say so...

I think Mechanico is somewhat right regarding prices coming down. I don't think we are going to see the price of cement ever coming down. Most of the cement supply worldwide is now controlled by just a few companies, and I think they are starting to behave like a cartel. Steel yes, copper yes after one more price surge. Gypsum board (sheetrock) will come down in price with the slowdown in the housing market. Lumber has dropped dramatically recently. But a bigger problem for the developers is that the subcontractors are all so busy, they have no more bodies to work on some of these projects, and so there is very little competition which keeps prices up.

I kind of think Nassi is waiting to see how all his bids come in before he commits to spending any more money than he already has. I would wager that if you check with Libeskind, Nassi is way behind on his payments to him.

[foxmtbr]

Originally Posted by POGO

I don't see how your snide comment about a $1,000 credit helps illustrate the point about delays. But if you say so...

Majin still owes Brandon $1000 from a bet.

[brandon12]

^I apologize. My comment was innapropriate, or, at least, irrelevant.

[mechanico]

Originally Posted by POGO

I don't think we are going to see the price of cement ever coming down. Most of the cement supply worldwide is now controlled by just a few companies, and I think they are starting to behave like a cartel.

Interesting, I'm going to look into that. I was under the impression that there are tons of cement plants all over the world. Making cement is a fairly simple process.It takes two things to make cement; limestone and heat. Limestone is everywhere. Prices should drop along with the cost of coal, natural gas, propane, ect. Of course outside of the U.S. companies are probably burning tires to process limestone into cement. Concrete on the other hand does require aggregate which is expensive do to mining restrictions in California. However, the huge drop in demand should cause a surplus at least for awhile.

I'd like to read about these cartels, do you have some links you could share.

[mechanico]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cement

Apparently, Portland Cement also contains clay and Gypsum(used in drywall), which are also common.

I did find info on cartels in small regions and or small countries but nothing world dominating or even U.S dominating.Also the info I did find on cement cartels was in reference to them being broken up. Can you help me with some names I can search on, Pogo?

[POGO]

Originally Posted by mechanico

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cement

Apparently, Portland Cement also contains clay and Gypsum(used in drywall), which are also common.

I did find info on cartels in small regions and or small countries but nothing world dominating or even U.S dominating.Also the info I did find on cement cartels was in reference to them being broken up. Can you help me with some names I can search on, Pogo?

I doubt you are going to find anything written on the internet about cartels. The most effective way to operate a cartel is to keep it quiet. Just research the market shares of the largest cement producers in the world, like LaFarge and Cemex. Also research who has been buying up locally owned readymix companies around the US.

[mechanico]

Posted 9/12/06

Originally Posted by cascraperdude

I have been and remain concerned for some time that the recent and abrupt slowdown in Sac. housing will haunt this project somehow...

Recently, I've become really concerned about this housing slowdown. Anyone have anything encouraging to say?