Solar panels and geothermal HVAC - Enfield Gardens project update #006

A few weeks after a formal official site development submittal on Thursday, Dec 4 to City of Austin we received our first round of comments to the site plan submission for Enfield Gardens. They had to reply by 1/2/15, but did it 6 days late. Surprisingly they did not request to remove the tree from the entrance and that’s really great, as the project looks much better with the tree (they can still do that later). Now the consultants will have to address comments and objections and go through the next round.

We expect that construction drawings to be completed by the end of this month, as we’ve already had the first draft printed last week.

Some neighbors decided to complain that the project does not comply with local restriction of 75’ setback from Enfield road. They are not aware that there is a Texas Supreme Court ruling on that particular deed restriction in Westenfield A being unenforceable (Baker v. Henderson, 153 S.W. 2d 465 [Tex 1941]). That is why we used Stewart to underwrite the title; they were willing to write express coverage over that restriction. So that battle with neighbors is not going to happen or it is going to be a very short one.

The decision to use geothermal HVAC system was a really good one. In addition to the fact that it is the most efficient, green and reliable system that is currently available, we will be getting a lot of government incentives. With green roof, ecologically sound EPS foam and light-gauge steel wall and roof system, solar panels and geothermal HVAC system the project will have Net Zero buildings and will be the most energy efficient project in Austin. We will rate it using Austin Energy Green Building (AEGB) score. The City of Austin created the nation’s first green building program in 1990. AEGB is now the nation's most successful sustainable building program. We expect that we not only achieve 5 star rating but will get the highest score ever achieved by the multifamily project in Central Texas.

We’ve started preparing documents for the project to be approved by USCIS for EB-5 Investment Program. That will allow us to raise $3.5m of equity at a very low interest rate and will make the project more profitable while helping overseas investors get their Green Cards for $500k investment each. 

Official site development submittal - project update #005

This week was very eventful. First of all we had demolition permits issued by City of Austin. That took a few months, but we finally got the result.

Second after completeness check was passed we had a formal official site development submittal on Thursday, Dec 4. That started the clock with the city – we are on schedule to receive our permits by May 2015.

Third we paid the first earnest money deposit to extend the closing by 30 days. We still have 5 more extensions, which should give us sufficient time to get development and building permits.

We were also introduced to Victor Demarco from American Geothermal (http://amgeosystems.com/) and we want to go ahead using geothermal HVAC system, as it is the most efficient, green and reliable system that is currently available:

The building design  has been updated to have more windows and optimized unit layout.

Project company registered - project update #004

Project company Enfield Gardens LLC was registered with the state of Texas. The contract was assigned to the new entity and the seller is preparing Owner Authorization for the Site Plan and Owner Authorization for building permits. By the end of this week when all these documents have been executed Enfield Gardens LLC will be able to obtain the site plan and building permits in its own right.

Our civil engineer Jerry Perales (http://peraleseng.com/) did the completeness check submission to the City of Austin. So the design phase of the project is over and we started the process of obtaining formal approval for the site development and construction. Our architect William Lawrence Hodge is working on construction drawings in conjunction with the structural engineer Michael Donoghue from Maritech Engineering, Inc.

Soils Investigation Report was completed by Greentrack Drilling http://greentrackdrilling.com

Two boreholes were drilled to the depth of 28 feet and based on the result of drilling and pits that were done earlier by Geotechnical Engineering Report was prepared by Triax Engineering.

As we decided to go ahead with green roof, design was changed to accommodate that

So we will have a lot of mature trees on the site plus the roofs will have more greenery. Therefore the name Enfield Gardens.

Geo-technical testing - project update #003

Last week we started testing where is the rock located below surface. Initial results with back hoe were positive - there is basically 2-3 foot of topsoil before the soil starts transitioning to limestone. There will be additional drilling done later to verify that the thickness of the topsoil and depth of limestone is uniform throughout the site. So it is a good news that we have rock close to the surface, so foundation will be directly on rock, but it is not too close, so we do not have to spend too much on removing rock from the site. I attached pictures of the first equipment we got on site. Next month there will be a drilling rig there.

2300, 2302 and 2304 Enfield Road project update #002

I tried to negotiate additional time extension for closing with the seller. She did not agree, as she thinks that current timeline is already very generous. And she is right. We can extend our closing till 6/15/15, which should be sufficient time for us to obtain all the required permits. The seller is responsible for getting the demolition permit, which is probably a few weeks away now. We will be filing a site permit in about 3 weeks and we are planning to get a building permit by 5/1/15.

I attached a proposed design prepared by our architect William Hodge. This is a preliminary the first draft. We have 36 two bedroom condos 908 square feet each with end value of $13m (32,688 square feet total floor area).

2300, 2302 and 2304 Enfield Road project update #001 - Mon 8/11/2014 9:47 PM

As promised I am writing the first monthly update for the project. The contract was signed on July 8^th, 2014. Earnest money were paid to Reliant Title Agency (see attached receipt). Cross Texas Land Services was appointed to do a land and trees survey and they have completed it today. William Lawrence Hodge from Ochona Development + Architecture LLC was appointed as our architect and after numerous meetings and drafts we came up with the attached draft layout of buildings and units. We will have to have half-level underground car garages and 3 levels of units above to avoid removing too many trees. I got a bid from a demolishing company (Southwest Destructors) and the seller is working on obtaining a demolishing permit.

BPO was completed by Drew Tate confirming my numbers for the finished product (see attached). I am still working on construction budget, but my next update will have a full feasibility study.