What is it:
New two-story, 46,000 sf library, cultural center building and civic campus adjacent to City Hall, replacing the old library on E. Atlantic Boulevard open from 1952 until November 2017. The new facility features a standard library, media labs, 5,000sf of theater/flex event space and an exhibition gallery of 750sf. Construction included also a multipurpose room, three tutoring rooms, a group study room, conference room, storytelling/program room, computer lab and the Teen Tech Studio, which is designed to encourage young adults to creatively explore digital media. The new library houses a collection of approximately 50,000 items including books, DVDs, CDs, publications and reference materials. Site improvements included a new civic plaza featuring raised planter areas, street furniture, a lightning bolt plaza and a new paved breezeway connecting the parking areas to the civic plaza. What's its purpose: Located at the heart of a community where the average annual income is under $40,000 per family, the Pompano Beach Cultural Center & Library was developed to provide broad access to knowledge, technology, and 21st century tools for creativity. To that end the project was developed to combine the richness of a state-of-the-art public library, that is equal parts children and adult services, with a cutting-edge cultural arts and media center. This combination gives shape to a one-of-a-kind innovative teaching and learning center unprecedented in the public realm. For two different sets of clients, budgets, and management teams the programs are uniquely separate but symbiotic, and are arranged to complement one another, promoting innovation and collaboration. The technology at the library is intended to introduce users of all ages to new media with spaces such as the YouMedia lab for kids. At the Cultural Arts and Media Center, the public has access to production spaces and advanced classes enabling entrepreneurial activities and collaborative projects. (via MPdL) The original vision for the library did not include the cultural center, which was added during planning. When Redevelopment Management Associates (RMA) was engaged as the Executive Director of the Pompano Beach Community Redevelopment Agency, they placed an emphasis on arts and culture venues for reinventing the Old Town Pompano Beach area, and residents overwhelmingly favored including the cultural center in the project. Details: 25,000 sf Public Library; 21,000 sf Cultural Arts and Media Center Architects: Silva Architects with MPdL Studio Completed: 2018 Construction cost: $19.7 million, with about half of that amount going toward each facility. Funding for the project came from Broward County, the City of Pompano Beach and the Pompano Beach Community Redevelopment Agency. The library is located on land owned by the City of Pompano Beach. The County will occupy the library space via a 50-year lease with the City, with a 50-year option to renew. Contractor: OHL Building, Miami (with CBI and NV2A) Achieved LEED Gold Certification Awards: 2017 Unbuilt Merit Award, AIA Miami Design Awards 2019 AIA FL Merit Award of Excellence for New Work 2019 AIA Miami Design Award Hours: (please verify Covid-19-influenced hours and admission conditions before you go) 10a – 6p Monday – Saturday Closed Sundays 954.357.7595 or 954.545.7800 Events calendar: https://www.pompanobeacharts.org/cc Note: The popular Pompano Green Market will restart on Nov 13, 2021, from 9a to 2p, and from there on (hopefully) every 2nd and 4th Saturday. __ Have you been at the Pompano Beach Cultural Center and Library? Do you like it – or what is your impression?
0 Comments
Overall, the main trend of the regional residential market – more closed sales and higher median prices – continues, but now with more new listings and a slight easing of the buyers-to-sellers ratio. As we enter the second half of 2021, the first change indicators for somewhat calmer times are appearing. Because Florida started its lock down last year on April 1st, I compare statistics not with June 2020 but June 2019, the last "normal" pre-pandemic period. Mid- to late 2020, as people adapted into a rhythm of life with the pandemic, the recovering regional housing market was in most aspects a market on steroids, making up for the lost spring and early summer buying peak, and thus considered atypical. Geographically, I am analysing the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach MSA (Metropolitan Statistical Area, a standard US urban and suburban geo-definition) - which consists of the three counties Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade, locally also referred to as the TriCounty area. Inventory in months*, where 4-6 months is generally considered a balanced housing market: Dropping from 5 mos for SFH to 1.8 mos, and from 8 to 3.2 mos for Condos/TH. Active inventory: For SFH increasing from May'21 to June'21 to 8,457, but coming down from 19,028 in June'19. Still, this is the first increase since March'20. Condo/TH listings went from 29,247 i June'19 to 15,503 units June'21. Median time on market (entering the MLS to signed contract): from 46 to 12 days for SFH, and 63 to 31 days for Condos/THs. (The bump in summer 2020 shows how atypical that year was). Closed sales: +40.8% for single family homes, and +144% for condos and townhomes (June 2021 vs. June 2019). Median selling prices: +29.9% for SFH, and +22.6% for Condos/THs. In absolute numbers: SFH went from $365,000 to $500,000 selling price, which is $149,000 over the Florida median. Condos/TH went from $206,450 to $269,700. Noteworthy is also the rise of cash transactions. In June'21, 32.7% of all SFH in the MSA were bought all cash, up from 22.7% in June 2019. For Condos/THs, cash purchases went from 49.8% to 54.0%. Two price brackets are the main contributors: above $1m and under $250k.
Over $1m selling price, 56.7% of SFH as well as 70.1% of all Condos/THs are bought cash. That is quite common in our market; luxury sales are traditionally very often cash sales. At the lower end, 38.6% of SFH between $200,000 and $250,000 selling price, and 56.5% of SFH between $150,000 and $200,000 were bought cash in June. Those are not owner/users but investors who are storming this segment. The chief economist of the Florida Realtors® Association, Dr. Brad O'Connor, believes "all current signs point to us having reached the peak of the seller's market. That doesn't mean we're going to swing right back into a buyer's market, though. Remember, we were already in a seller's market for single-family homes before the pandemic. All this means is that market conditions for today's prospective buyers have [likely] finished worsening." To some extent, that will also depend on how mortgage interest rates develop. According to Freddie Mac, interest rates for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 2.98% in June 2021, down from 3.16% in June 2019. In addition, I expect the Surfside collapse to put pressure on pricing for older condo units for a while, especially if regional or State laws are quickly enacted that go above and beyond the so-called 40year recertification requirement. Those are currently in place only Miami-Dade and Broward counties. But not for long – take my word for it. Questions, comments, corrections? I very much welcome your input! ___ *meaning: at the current selling pace, in X months all inventory would be depleted. |
AuthorTobias Kaiser works as an independent real estate broker and consultant in Florida since 1990. Always putting his clients' interest first, he specialises in modern Florida homes and architecture, as well as net leased investments. Archives
August 2024
|