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17
Aug 14

Crowd Funding in Real Estate

Crowd funding websites and the businesses behind them attempt to remove the middlemen and directly join developer and small scale equity investor.

Crowd funding in real estate development is really advancing. This disruptive innovation has significant implications for developers, financiers and real estate agents including investment marketers and proportional ownership schemes.

One person who has $1,000 to invest is unlikely to find an able and willing real estate developer to take that money, smoothly manage the process and provide an acceptable investment framework to (eventually and hopefully) pay a return on that equity. However, a crowd of small scale investors can create a substantial equity contribution and enough capital to warrant a managed investment environment to get projects off the ground.

The risks and ramifications to the investor are high and it would appear to open up a legal minefield – especially as crowd funding crosses national borders. Disclosures (or lack of) and securities legislation immediately come to mind.

For the developer what is the true cost of this equity and can you sell your projects success (before you sell your projects products!), potentially to small scale investors around the world?

Perhaps you want to raise money to develop villas in Argentina (a tough sell) or a pre-leased childcare renovation project in New Jersey (oversubscribed!)?

Now, there is no need to go a mezzanine lender or find a wealthy silent partner.

You can simply ask the ‘crowd’!

Source: http://groundbreaker.co/deals

As we continue to explore crowd funding in real estate here are some articles of interest:

http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/07/06/4221997/developers-turn-to-crowdfunding.html

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/232717

http://online.wsj.com/articles/real-estate-sector-moves-crowdfunding-beyond-the-trinkets-1402526777

http://www.forbes.com/sites/groupthink/2014/06/10/real-estate-crowdfunding-post-valuations-of-100m-for-series-a/

Here are some of the crowd funding players:

http://crowdbaron.com/

https://www.realtymogul.com/

https://www.tycoonre.com/for-dealmakers/

https://www.ifunding.co/asia/how-it-works-partners.php

https://fundrise.com/investing-with-fundrise

https://www.realtyshares.com/

https://www.propellr.com/how-it-works

http://groundbreaker.co/deals

http://www.openavenue.com/

http://www.crowdstreet.com/

Andrew Crosby
andrew.crosby@aenspire.com
www.aenspire.com

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10
Aug 14

Down by the boardwalk, down by the sea

Extending the waterfront development theme explored in Bridge over……is that really a bridge? and Luxury Waterfront Developments I take a snapshot at the interface between water, shoreline and built form.

Often some of the most memorable settings in a development are found at this juncture. They take their form as a functional boardwalk, jetty, dock, esplanade, promenade, wharf or pier.

However, when designed well they can become a destination, even art, in their own right amplifying the amenity of the star attraction – water.

Higher levels of amenity typically translate into higher value for developments that directly benefit – so there is often a case to invest a little imagination and some additional funds to get it looking spectacular !

Source: http://www.houzz.com/boardwalk/p/8

Source: http://www.archdaily.com/61529/benidorm-seafront-oab/

Source: http://design-milk.com/thai-ultimate-paradise-dusit-thani-maldives/

Source: http://www.archdaily.com/111635/toronto-central-waterfront-west-8-and-dtah/

Source: http://www.archdaily.com/445661/red-ribbon-park-turenscape/

dragonlake
Source: http://www.aecom.com/What+We+Do/Design+and+Planning/stories/In+Bengbu,

Source: http://www.contemporist.com/2010/11/25/the-dover-esplanade-by-tonkin-liu/

Source: http://www.aila.org.au/victoria/awards2009/st_kilda_promenade.htm

Source: http://www.un6.org/stud/2009/02/cdl-waaoaarch-daily-promenade-samuel-de-champlain/

Source: http://www.dezeen.com/2013/09/06/kalvebod-waves-by-jds-architects/

Source: http://www.dezeen.com/2014/04/14/wooden-viewing-platform-latvia-river-daugava-didzis-jaunzems-jaunromans-abele/

Source: http://www.dezeen.com/2014/07/24/dutch-fortress-floating-bridge-ro-ad/

Source: http://www.archdaily.com/349429/the-pier-kavakava-architects/

Source: http://www.houzz.com/jetty/p/32

Source: http://www.atlaspier.com/

Source: http://www.wickcraft.com/PierSystems.aspx

Source: http://www.gazlo.com/marketplace/walworth/businesses/austin-pier-svc-inc/features/5408/

Source: http://www.houzz.com/photos/3179791/1112-fb-guitar-pier.jpg

Source: http://handspringdesign.wordpress.com/habitat-jetty/

Source: http://www.houzz.com/jetty/p/24

Source: http://www.ikeadecor.com/architecture/umea-campus-park-by-thorbjorn-andersson.html

Source: http://www.houzz.com/jetty

Source: http://www.houzz.com/jetty/p/128

Source: http://www.houzz.com/pier

Source: http://www.dailytonic.com/big-rock-jetty-by-edward-szewczyk-associates-architects-au/

Source: http://www.houzz.com/jetty/p/112

Andrew Crosby
andrew.crosby@aenspire.com
www.aenspire.com

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07
Aug 14

Bridge over……is that really a bridge?

During an earlier post on Luxury Waterfront Developments I began to think about those developments where you need to cross the water. That led me to research bridges and how they could add value in a master plan especially those for pedestrians and cyclists.

Santiago Calatrava is often known as the ‘Starchitect’ of designer bridges. I have been lucky enough to walk over a few of them including The Puente de la Mujer Bridge in Buenos Aires and the Ponte della Costituzione in Venice. I once contacted his office during an architect pre-selection process and was sent an exciting book of his best work. A Calatrava bridge, can act like a monument of modern infrastructural art. On its own it can bring international recognition to a development project.

Of course there are now plenty of other artistic contenders creating fantastic and sometimes illusionary or gravity defying structures. Plus there are a few retrofits of existing bridges.

In your development when you have to cross water (or a road, a train track or a gully) why not embrace this functional necessity with an architectural and often value adding bridging edifice?

The Puente de la Mujer Bridge

Source: http://www.calatrava.com/#/Selected works/Architecture/Buenos Aires?mode=english