Wright House in Phoenix saved; Hadid to design Miami condo building

The Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy emailed Christmas cheer to their supporters yesterday: it has facilitated the purchase of the David and Gladys Wright House in Phoenix, Arizona, through an LLC owned by an anonymous benefactor.

The transaction closed on December 20 for an undisclosed price. The property will be transferred to an Arizona not-for-profit organization responsible for the restoration, maintenance and operation of the David Wright House.

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After renowned architect (“starchitect”?) Zaha Hadid joined other notables and made her imprint on Miami Beach with a municipal parking garage in the Collin’s Park area, she has been commissioned to design a residential tower in Miami, her first in the western hemisphere.

The project – no details available yet – will be located on 1000 Biscayne Boulevard in downtown Miami, west of Bicentennial Park and the Bay and just south of MacArthur Causeway which connects Miami with Miami Beach.

Google street-view  shows currently a BP station at the site, right next to Miami Pawn. But surely the Hadid name will guarantee the developers of 1000 Biscayne Tower adequate pricing of the units.

Hadid, mentioned in this blog in the two-part post “Modern Architecture in the Alps”, is an Iraki living in London. Only recently she had lost an intense competition to design an office on 425 Park Avenue in New York City to Sir Norman Foster. An overview of her work is at arcspace.

Owners of Wright-house in Phoenix consider Selling or Razing later

A development team that bought the David-Wright-house in Phoenix designed by famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright will sell the house rather than accept landmark status, reports the NYTimes today.

The house's owners, John Hoffman and Steve Sells, are hoping to sell the house before Nov. 7, when the City Council is scheduled to vote on giving it landmark status, which they oppose.

But in Arizona landmark status shields a property from development or destruction for only three years. So if the Council grants the request, something else might happen, Mr. Sells said. 

“I’ll move in, invite everybody to come in and take their pictures, and I’m going to wait three years,” he said, interlacing his fingers behind his neck as he slouched on the orange cushions of the master bedroom’s seating area. “Then I’m going to knock it down to recoup my losses.” 

Please read the full NYTimes article here, and then voice your opinion on the possible demolition here.

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Photo: The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Archives

Wright house fighting for Survival; a Modern Real Estate Transaction

©Scott Jarson via NYT

The David and Gladys Wright house in Phoenix, designed 1952 by David's father Frank Lloyd Wright, is in immediate danger to be torn down; a developer is chomping at the bit to raze it and subdivide the lot. 

Michael Kimmelman, NYT's architectural critic, wrote a enlightening and detailed piece about the dilemma the house is facing; please read it here.

And while you're at it, please cast your vote here to preserve this endangered design. 

Update Wed, 3 Oct: The City of Phoenix and the developer have reached an agreement that will put any work on hold while a search continues for a buyer. A senior adviser for Mayor Frank Stanton said Wednesday that the agreement with the developer who bought the 1952 home delays for nearly a month any demolition of the house. The adviser said the deal allows time to find a buyer who will preserve the house. The potential demolition of the sweeping home, built on more than two acres, set off a firestorm among architects (dpa via nyt).

Real Estate Transactions in Modern Times

Some of you may know that I also practice commercial real estate, specialising on NNN or net-leased properties (this is the case when a tenant is responsible for every building expense including taxes, repairs and insurance. Typical are a Walgreens, CVS, McDonalds or many others you see every day). 

But recently, I was part of one the more interesting commercial transactions in my 20+ years of practice – interesting because of the geographical aspects of the deal. 

The way this transaction was conducted would not have been possible when I was a noobie in real estate:

• the two investments were located in Ohio
• the seller was located in Tennessee
• the buyer was located in North Carolina
• the listing broker was located in Michigan
• the selling broker – me – is located in Florida

I never saw the properties, never met the seller, never met my colleagues, and didn't fly up to the closing (which in most cases has to take place in the county the property is located). All done electronically, all done from afar.

I have conducted negotiations, inspections and closings long-distance before, some even from overseas. But this was the first time when I handled every part of a transaction from my desk. In my opinion, this clearly works only in commercial, and even then only in some cases.

Have you done a similar deal? And what are your thoughts on conducting business without any face-time?