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.
