Brandeis Building (210 S 16th St)

[redfield]

The Brandeis is such a cool old building. If they cleaned/repaired the exterior, got the elevators and hallways between their sales office and models cleaned up and finished, they would have a much easier time selling. It's really hard for a person to envision how nice the building will be, when the exterior hasn't been touched yet, and they have to walk through a construction zone to get to the model units(which are nice). Their pricing is a little under that of the other competing projects mentioned above.

[omahastylee459]

I love where the Brandeis is. It would be cool to have a view of the first national park and 16th street. During the day, that area is packed with people walking around which is always a good thing to see

[scraper]

The problem is, most people aren't home in their condo during the day so daytime traffic really doesn't matter when deciding where to live. Would you rather be in the Paxton or JLofts, which are 2-3 blocks closer to the OM with much more nighttime foot traffic, or on 16th Street which is pretty much desolate at night?

[Brad]

Pictures from the forum meet:

Brandise (19 Pics)







































I thought the inside of the building looked great.

All condos here:
http://www.eomaha.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4618

[almighty_tuna]

Thanks for the pics! That place is incredible!!!!! I'm very surprised.

[redfield]

Nice, they have finished the hallways since I was last there. That will really help. We are all having a huge condo tour on August 12th, I think that getting all that traffic through now that the hallways don't look like a construction site will be big for them.

[OmahaJaysCU]

This is crazy, that guy in the blue is definately the architecture teacher at Creighton Prep. Good ole Mr. Jordan. Thats halarious.

[icejammer]

The problem is, most people aren't home in their condo during the day so daytime traffic really doesn't matter when deciding where to live. Would you rather be in the Paxton or JLofts, which are 2-3 blocks closer to the OM with much more nighttime foot traffic, or on 16th Street which is pretty much desolate at night?

Believe it or not, not everybody moving downtown does it for the OM nightlife. And look for 16th St to come more alive in the future.

[HskrFanMike]

For one I think those are over priced. They don't have as much of a view and for what they are asking it doesn't surprise me.

I think Wall Street Tower is going to have view issues as well. The top 10 floors will be fine, and the North side will be ok. But for floors up through 21 or 22, the south side views will be of the UP and Qwest buildings. Note what the FNB building does for the view from Brandeis looking north?

[Raraavis]

This is crazy, that guy in the blue is definately the architecture teacher at Creighton Prep. Good ole Mr. Jordan. Thats halarious.

More importantly who's the redhead?

[StreetsOfOmaha]

For one I think those are over priced. They don't have as much of a view and for what they are asking it doesn't surprise me.

I think Wall Street Tower is going to have view issues as well. The top 10 floors will be fine, and the North side will be ok. But for floors up through 21 or 22, the south side views will be of the UP and Qwest buildings. Note what the FNB building does for the view from Brandeis looking north?

I think the south side will be far enough stepped back from Dodge Street to have pretty good views. Although, me, I wouldn't mind just having a "canyon-like" view of UPC.

[OmahaChef]

I agree Streets. The front of the building fronts Capitol, and the half of the block that fronts Dodge is retail/parking garage. There is plenty of setback for views.

Personally, I'd have to question the validity of only seven condos sold. I personally saw 6 different moving vans on six different days when I was still commuting to Bellevue by bus, and I find it hard to believe I saw almost every single owner that has moved in so far.

[ModestMouse]

I wish that there was lower end condos, y'know?

Like you have the high end, middle end, than the low end condo, all in downtown..thta's what I'd like to see.

But I remember some people were all saying the condo boom is over...etc

[ItsAllAboutMe]

Personally, I'd have to question the validity of only seven condos sold

I would too but if you read my post correctly I said 7 were OCCUPIED!!

[eomaha]

Thanks for that reiteration Me.

[Brad]

This is crazy, that guy in the blue is definately the architecture teacher at Creighton Prep. Good ole Mr. Jordan. Thats halarious.


More importantly who's the redhead?

She was with her dad, the guy in the green (at least I hope it was her dad!)

[StreetsOfOmaha]

I think we've got you covered, Modest Mouse. The condo boom has condos starting as low as $60,000 and going all the way up to the millions. And it should only keep diversifying more and more.

[Coyote]

Brandeis on brink of foreclosure sale

Developers of the Brandeis Building condominiums are looking for someone else to take over the project, a move forced by the filing of liens by subcontractors and a notice of default by Great Western Bank.

"There were just not enough sales in 2006 to keep going, which is really unfortunate, because the project and the building are really first class."  Douglas County records show 15 of 131 condos have sold.

Brandeis Lofts LLC investors are Hampton of Lincoln, Breck Collingsworth of Lincoln and Steve Borgmann of Norfolk, Neb. Early in 2005, they paid $8,675,000 for the 10-story, 1906 building at 16th and Douglas Streets. By then, the former department store had become a mostly vacant office building.

[StreetsOfOmaha]

Do I really even have to say that I'm not surprised that two guys from Lincoln and one from Norfolk weren't able to effectively market and complete a project in downtown Omaha???

15 out of 131 sold???  Are you kidding me?  All this comes down to is poor managing/marketing, and inflated pricepoints.

[Bobcat]

Streets of Omaha, I agree with your assessment.   Let's add a few things to your list:  poor design of the project and bad quality in the condos.  It's disappointing because the project could've been so much more.  Mixing the sketchy food court with $600,000 condos is simply weird.  The project was screaming mixed use and an opportunity was/is had to bring back the retail component of the site that characterizes the building's history.  A track home developer from Lincoln coming to downtown Omaha and impacting a condo market in it's infancy should be held accountable, as should the Urban Omaha and Prudential Sales Team that told him that they could sell condos for him.  Let's hope that the bank goes after his business in Lincoln and future residential developers downtown perform more thorough due diligence, especially when it comes to performance and reputation of the sales team.      

Needless to say this project has been scrapped from my list of potential places to live downtown.

[Greg S]

I think blaming the fact that they are from Norfolk and Lincoln is a little ignorant.  

Greg

[DTO Luv]

No it's not. I thought what they did with the Brandies building as far as the inside was terrible.

-Tearing out all of the decorative columns and ceilings in the building was a huge mistake. When I took tours of the place I'd never seen so many people cringe and complain about how boring the units looked. My mom said it looked more like a Celebrity model home than a DT condo.

-Looking at a floor plan some of the units ended up with weird, useless spaces because of tearing out part of the building for that atrium.

-With as expensive as the units were there should have been more customization. It seemed like all were designed the same and the wants of the purchaser were an after thought.

This is really sad. The Brandies building is a great building and can still be a great place to live but someone that knows what they're doing needs to be at the helm.

[StreetsOfOmaha]

I think blaming the fact that they are from Norfolk and Lincoln is a little ignorant.  

Greg

I didn't place ANY blame on them.  I said it isn't SURPRISING.

[redfield]

Bummer.

Bad timing by the bank, this project would have been fine if given the chance to sell as the spring market heats up.

[Ben]

I don't know if this was common knowledge or not, but I was talking to someone that works for one of the subcontractors on the Brandeis project yesterday and thought I'd pass this along.  All work has been stopped on unfinished units until the liens are taken care of.   They were told by their management to document their hours and costs to turn in for payment, then get out.  He was also saying that besides the one or two occupied floors, and one nearing completion, there's a lot of work left to finish out the remaining units in the building.  The still under construction atrium is supposedly a real eyesore for those living there.

This is going to be one vicious cycle they're stuck in.  Can't sell more units b/c they aren't completed, can't complete the units until they get the cash (which would either come from sales of units or some bank bailing them out).

[Bobcat]

There is an advertisement in today's Wall Street Journal, page B12B, listing the Brandies for sale at $20Million.  My guess is that is enough to pay for the purchase of the building (around $8.5M), the liens outstanding ($2 to $3M), the work he has into it and a nice profit for the Lincoln developer who got into it over his head.  Let's hope no one bails this bozo out ... a la 902 Dodge.

[jjjjhskr]

 Let's hope no one bails this bozo out ... a la 902 Dodge.

What's the 902 Dodge reference regarding?

[Ben]

wow..... $20 million.  I don't know who'd be dumb enough to go ahead and buy the building at that price.  Assuming that 10 or so of the originally announced 140 condos are already sold, that leaves 130 to spread that $20 MM over (and potentially sell and reap a profit).  That's just over $150,000 per unit just to purchase the building, and the majority of the building still needs significant investment to finish it out.  The #s just don't make sense.  Its never going to sell at anywhere near that amount - or if it does, just watch developer #2 go belly up as well.

[icejammer]

Story from the OWH:

Brandeis Building listed nationally

Investor Bob Hampton of Lincoln was out of the country Wednesday, but he has said that he had not been able to sell enough condos and owed subcontractors and the bank. He blamed a slow housing market.

"Nobody anticipated the marketplace would literally stop like it did in '06," he said.

Since the group took possession of the building, it had built two atriums, completely built out the eighth and ninth floors as condos, finished the seventh floor to the drywall stage and framed the fifth and sixth floors. Some work had been completed on the adjacent parking garage, including the installation of security gates on the seventh floor.

Still, the price tag of $20 million raised some eyebrows locally.

Tasha Henninger of Prudential Ambassador Real Estate's Urban Omaha team said some local developers are interested in the building but want to see the property go through foreclosure so it would be sold free of liens and probably for less

Don't forget there's nearly $10 million in TIF available for this property as well.  Still, $20 million seems a little high, just like the article says.

[Greg S]

There are rumors that other projects downtown are struggling as well. One that's already underway, and one that has not started.

Greg

[Brad]

There are rumors that other projects downtown are struggling as well. One that's already underway, and one that has not started.

Greg

Please talk about overall slow condo sales on this thread:
http://eomahaforums.com/phpBB/viewtopic ... highlight=

Lets try to keep this thread for just the Brandise.

Thanks
Brad

[Big E]

I'm still saying that the projects that are struggling are struggling more because of the product/value being offered vs any lack of demand for downtown residential.

There is a limited number of customers for the 1600 sqft 2 bed/2 bath one parking space with window views of an alley at $300/sqft.  People are fighting over high end and low end, and it seems all the developers can come up with is an endless supply of mid-range.  When I looked at the Wallstreet project several months ago, the entire NW corner was sold at the top and at the bottom.  The small A and B units at SoMa were so popular that the floorplans for phase 3 and 4 were totally changed to add more of these units and reduce the number of large units.

It's irresponsible for builders to offer something the market doesn't want and then run around proclaiming how soft the market is (and I'm not just saying that because I'm invested in the market).  I know they all do their cost analysii (what's the plural of analysis?) and have the buildings figured for sqft/unit x units - cost/sqft blah blah blah whatever their formula is, but they still have to actually SELL those units.  All the formulas in the world don't do you an ounce of good if people don't want what the formula is kicking out.  You can only blame your agents and the market for so much before you have to wonder about your product, especially when some are selling and some aren't.

-Big E

edit: Sorry about that Brad...  I finished my post and came back to see your post above.

[Brad]

Big E,

You are right about the overbuilding of high dollar condos.  If there were a lot of 90,000-100,000 condos they would sell real fast.   I think the Rorick would be sold out if it was about 8 blocks to the north west.

[Bobcat]

Big E, Well put and great points.

[icejammer]

(what's the plural of analysis?)

Analyses.  

[StreetsOfOmaha]

Big E,

You are right about the overbuilding of high dollar condos.  If there were a lot of 90,000-100,000 condos they would sell real fast.   I think the Rorick would be sold out if it was about 8 blocks to the north west.

Northwest???


And great points, Big E.

[Brad]

Big E,

You are right about the overbuilding of high dollar condos.  If there were a lot of 90,000-100,000 condos they would sell real fast.   I think the Rorick would be sold out if it was about 8 blocks to the north west.

Northwest???


And great points, Big E.

OOPS!

North East (closer to Downtown)

[midtown charlie]

Yeah I don't think the commuters would be too happy if they built a condo tower right in the middle of i-480.  

[Big E]

If the Rorick were 8 blocks northeast it would be another $100/sqft, too.

-Big E

[DTO Luv]

Our prices at the Rorick have already gone up $4,500 per unit since I've moved in in the very end of September.