Lessons From The Valley

Castle Air Force Base

Sorry for the late afternoon post, I am traveling for work the next few days but thanks to the Internet I saw the City Council approved the demolition of 2413 Buena Vista and the renovation project on Bay Street.

I am currently in California’s Central Valley and yesterday I drove by the former Castle Air Force base in Meced/Atwater. This is a relatively small base compared to many I have seen but like NAS Alameda to it was subject to base closure in 1995.

The 45 minutes I spent driving around the renamed Castle Airport Aviation and Development Center, showed that it had about the same activity as Alameda Point. The only major difference I could find was the former military housing was sitting in disrepair and not being used. But the commercial activity was very active.

I also saw that they had a very active general aviation business. There were hundreds of small planes. I forget why Alameda did not pursue this activity for Alameda Point, maybe someone can update it in the comments.

A little history on Castle Air Force Base (1941-1995) this former United States Air Force Strategic Air Command base located northeast of Atwater, northwest of Merced and about 123 Miles east southeast of San Francisco, California.

The end of the Cold War brought many changes to the Air Force, and Castle AFB was selected for closure under the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Act of 1990 during Round II Base Closure Commission deliberations (BRAC 91). The 328d Bomb Squadron was inactivated 3 May 1994, and the wing was placed on non-operational status. However, the 93d continued to supervise the closure of Castle AFB. The 93d Bomb Wing was inactivated on 30 September 1995 with the closure of Castle AFB.

As of 2008, local government plans to convert the dormant facility to civilian commercial use has become an active political issue, sound familiar. The property also houses the United States Penitentiary, Atwater on a portion of the grounds. The also have an air museum, met a nice man named Phil who was stationed at the base when it was active. UC Merced also has some offices on the property.

The little lessons I learned is base conversion is slow in almost every community. If you are willing to us the land for government uses, like a prison, then adaptive use can be quicker and finally Alameda looks to have the same level of activity then as its Central Valley sister.

Have a great day 

A Closer Look at th Numbers

I collect my data from multiple sources, primarily the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), but I like to cross reference it with other online sources when I have a chance. Trulia has a lot of great stats and you can really get lost in the numbers, but here is a snapshot of how they see the Alameda market.

Alameda Real Estate Overview

Today, March 2, 2009

Market View for Alameda

Info

Avg. Listing Price$675,577Wk ending Feb 25

-$19,261
-2.8%
w-o-w

Median Sales Price$550,000Nov '08 - Jan '09

-$92,989
-14.5%
y-o-y

96	Homes For Sale	3	Open Homes
406	Recently Sold	138	Foreclosures

The numbers are very dramatic with big declines in listing and median sale prices. The one number that is overstated is the foreclosure numbers, I only report foreclosures that are actually "for sale" and on the market. Trulia reports foreclosures that includes properties in the pre-foreclosure, auction, and bank-owned stages of the foreclosure process.

Here is how they define the other numbers:

Average Listing Price for the most recent week available is based on daily list price data for resale and new homes on Trulia and is compared to the same period one week prior.

Median Sales Price is based on sales during the most recent 90-day period available and is updated each week to include recent transactions from public record data sources. The Median Sales Price is the price at which one-half of the homes sold for more than that amount and one-half of the homes sold for less than that amount.

Recently Sold is a count of all known arms-length residential sales in the last 9 months according to public records.

The Median Sales Price chart shows a real steady and downward decline in sales price. The other chart shows Average Price Per Square Foot, the last 12 months has now fallen below the cost of five years ago. Currently the Average Square Foot Price $333 compared to $342 five years prior. The two bedroom home has seen the largest decline, of 28.5% year-ver-year.

 

Alameda Recently Sold Homes

Alameda Recently Sold Homes

Council to Review 2413 Buena Vista

So, the Alameda City Council will hear the appeal for 2413 Buena Vista tomorrow night after being continued from the last meeting. I wrote two different post connected to this topic (When was our Community Built? And The Crossroads of Progress and Preservation) and I will be very interested to see what action they take. It is Item 6A:

Public Hearing to consider an appeal of the Historical Advisory Board’s denial of a request to remove 2413 Buena Vista Avenue from the Alameda Historical Building Study List and denial of a Certificate of Approval to allow demolition of the structure; and adoption of related resolution. (Planning and Building) [Continued from February 17, 2009]

The balancing act between those wo would like to see the property preseved and restored and the owners who would like to demolish the building as part of a larger commercial construction project. TheHistoric Advisory Board asked about relocation but that topic did not move forward. The owner has offered the building to anyone willing to relocate or use the materials for another restoration.

The report prepared for the HAB and City Council by Page and Turnbull the key notes were:

• The integrity of the structure's workmanship and materils has been comprimised, due to neglect, deterioration, and changes to the interior and exterior.
• The intergrity site's setting has been comprimised by changes in the neighborhood, such as replacement of residential structures at the southern side of the site with a parking lot
• The site is not associated with a historic event or person significant to the history of California or Alameda
• The architech or designer of the structure is unknown
• The structure is not outstanding or rare example of a Queen Anne cottage style building

The big one here is that the home has not been found significant to be included on the State's Historic Resource Inventory, the National Historic Registry or even Alameda's Monuments. So, let's see what fate has for the home after Tuesday.

The Council also will hear another housing related issue:

Public Hearing to consider an Appeal of the Historical Advisory Board’s decision to conditionally approve a Certificate of Approval to alter more than thirty percent of the value of a historically significant residential building located at 1150 Bay Street for the purpose of remodeling a previous addition and adding a front porch. The site is located within an R-1, One Family Residential Zoning District; and adoption of related resolution

Inventory Data: Pulled 3/1/2009 at 8:00 AM; New listings for February 20-28.

1-Mar-09
Total	161
94501	128
94502	33
SFR	89
Condo	43
Multi-Family	29
Short Sale	28
Foreclosure	11
Price Reductions	62
High	$  1,795,000
Low	$     214,900

 

New Listings
Date	Address	List Price
2/27/2009	1343 Broadway	$890,000
2/26/2009	1813 Sherman	$599,000
2/23/2009	32 Cheshire	$879,000
2/20/2009	8 Dolphin	$599,000
2/20/2009	928 San Antonio	$565,000
2/20/2009	616 Westline	$779,000