Hoff & Leigh’s Weekend Market Report
Hoff & Leigh, Inc.
Leasing, Sales, Management, Buyer or Tenant Representation
4445 Northpark Drive, Suite 200
Colorado Springs, CO USA 80907
January 17, 2010
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All Market Average Office Building Sale Price PSF = $106.46 (UP from $106.44 last week.)
We are currently tracking 155 office buildings for sale.
This is 1,616,761 square feet, which represents a total market value of $171,891,333.
All Market Average Industrial Building Sale Price PSF = $81.93 (UP from $81.54 last week.)
We are currently tracking 143 industrial buildings for sale.
This is 1,742,185 square feet, which represents a total market value of $142,795,256.
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Tim’s Market Report
I get interesting feedback from this column. To that point, the following is from a friend who is a respected local attorney. His comments were a result of my comments a few weeks ago, where I proclaimed that “Colorado Springs is a great place to live & work”. I’m not sure he believes me. I’m traveling this weekend, so I thought I’d use his keen insight to “stir the pot.” I’d love to hear from you; weigh-in and let me know what you think.
“Your 1/4/10">1/4/10 observations included several high rankings of Colorado Springs in various surveys. Let me offer a contrarian view.
From time to time I see and hear various Colorado Springs residents complaining, orally and in print, that their children have moved away because they couldn't find a job here, or they didn't like the conservative nature of Colorado Springs. That's nothing more than the manifestation of a greater problem: our children are moving away because they can't find jobs here commensurate with the educations we have provided for them, and the quality of life in Colorado Springs is not high enough to keep them here.
Let me illustrate with my own children. First, there's education. This state, and particularly this city, can't offer the quality of education available elsewhere. Both of my children acquired their college educations elsewhere, at greater expense, because the quality of education available in Colorado, and particularly in Colorado Springs, was not up to the caliber they expected. That, in itself, is not very surprising; we already know that Colorado universities are middling state or private institutions that can seldom compete with top-notch schools elsewhere; we just hope they can bring that top-quality education back here because we think there's no better place to live and bring up families. However, having acquired the education they wanted, Colorado Springs did not offer them jobs commensurate with their education.
Let me rephrase that: there were not (and are not today) jobs that fit their education credentials available in Colorado Springs. Are their educations unusual? Hardly, one has a degree in mechanical engineering and an MBA, and the other has a degree in mathematics. But their educations prepared them for jobs that don't exist in Colorado Springs at the levels and for the remuneration they can get elsewhere. The manufacturers who have located plants here are not local; the local facilities are ancillary or satellite facilities, and the persons employed in those facilities are not the ones doing jobs for which such educations are needed. Think about how many people you have known that were promoted out of their jobs here and had to move elsewhere to move up on their employer's ladder. Hence, my children left town, and so have the children of lots of other parents in this town.
But wait, one of my children changed jobs; he is now just a high school mathematics teacher. Surely, there's a job here for him. Unfortunately, he can't make enough money in Colorado Springs to support his growing family. To do that, he has to go to a big state or overseas, where the remuneration for teachers is much better than in Colorado (and perhaps where his talents for teaching subjects like calculus and statistics are better appreciated and in greater demand). Colorado Springs holds no attraction for him in the job market.
Then there's the issue of the quality of life in Colorado Springs. My children don't think much of that; their quality of life is better elsewhere. One lives in Berkeley, California, and his quality of life is much better than it would be here. I've spent enough time there that I can't argue that with him anymore. The other lives near Tel Aviv, Israel. Quality of life there is not so great (he can see the West Bank, but there aren't any missiles coming from that direction), but he's not likely to be there long. Will he come back to the U.S.? No, more likely to central Europe. I can argue quality of life Colorado Springs v. Tel Aviv (physical danger is the trump card), but I lose when discussing quality of life Colorado Springs v. central Europe, for the same reasons as Berkeley: better schools, better job opportunities, more urban transport, more cultural opportunities, better urban services, less religious strife, better health care. Those are the issues we are fighting among ourselves about in Colorado Springs, and most of Colorado for that matter (Boulder excepted), and we aren't getting any better at any of them.
My kids found places to live where those issues have been solved. 300 days of sunshine doesn't fix those problems, and won't until the citizens of Colorado Springs can begin to think beyond their parochial interests and realize that a great city (and country, for that matter) has to offer more to its citizens than low taxes and bankrupt civic services. There's a good reason Doug Bruce and Focus on the Family moved here from other places in the country: our citizenry seems more amenable to their advocacy of limited social and civic responsibilities. And that has a direct effect on quality of life.
A friend of mine calls me a closet anarchist; stirring the pot is something I seem to revel at. So allow me to stir it a little more. I think the City of Colorado Springs has fallen into what I term the Detroit syndrome. Detroit is a failed city, laid low by a collapse of its employment base, a resulting flight of citizens for elsewhere to find employment, and a failure to provide a quality of living which would induce the income-producing members of the social order to stay in the city. It is now on life-support, propped up by the State of Michigan because it cannot support itself and has lost the tax base (in terms of both population and business) that would allow it to dig its way out of the hole.
Colorado Springs is headed in the same direction. By constantly squeezing the tax base and revenue lower, the citizens of Colorado Springs have started the death spiral of the Detroit syndrome. Colorado Springs can no longer raise the tax revenue that allows it to provide for an increasing quality of life for its citizens, or even to maintain the quality of life, just as Detroit has lost that ability through the collapse of its tax base.
The effects of absolute tax limitation and collapse of the tax base are the same. A city that cannot provide effective mass transit to all areas of the City, that cannot afford to provide para-transit services on weekends or holidays, that cannot afford to water and tend its parks, that cannot provide effective basic services like fixing streets, that has to ration police protection, and now has lost the ability to continue to protect its citizens from stormwater catastrophes, cannot expect to increase or even maintain the quality of life of its citizens.
If this crisis of City services was related solely to the current economic conditions, we could foresee that when economic conditions improve the City could ramp back up its City services to continue those projects which increase our collective quality of life. But that won't happen, because this City now lacks the tax resources in the future to afford it.
I’m heading to the land of Aloha & Mahalo. I’m told they have email all the way across the ocean. It’s one of those Christmas Miracles. So, if you’d like to discuss this article or commercial real estate, call or e-mail me. Let’s test the system; keep it real and have a profitable week.
Sincerely,
Tim Leigh
Imagine The Possibilities!
Tim Leigh
Hoff & Leigh Commercial Real Estate
Hoff & Leigh’s Weekend Market Report
Hoff & Leigh, Inc.
Leasing, Sales, Management, Buyer or Tenant Representation
4445 Northpark Drive, Suite 200
Colorado Springs, CO USA 80907
January 17, 2010
You are receiving this information because, at some point, you asked or a friend referred your name to be included in our e-mail Insider’s List. If you no longer wish to receive this information, send an e-mail reply to me (tim@hoffleigh.com) and ask to be removed. Alternatively, if you know someone who could benefit from the receipt of this information, forward this e-mail to them, and suggest they contact us, so we can consider adding them to our exclusive list.
WOW! I’ve already received several e-mail reply’s this morning telling me how dismal my earlier message was. Recall, my message was a quote from one of your neighbors. So don’t shoot the messenger! I found this reply very aligned with my thinking, but, please, weigh-in; let me know what you think our city needs. Let’s get the conversation flowing!
Tim’s Market Report
The rebuttal from another friend with a different point of view (and by the way, all points-of-view are welcome!) Arriving at consensus from varying view-points is the only way to press forward and get community engagement. He starts out with a well wish:
“Have a great time in Hawaii, Tim!”
“Your attorney friend makes some interesting observations. Unfortunately, he's so soured he doesn't point out a number of assets that might balance out his thesis. The Air Force Academy is a great university that's regularly recognized as a top undergraduate school. Also, the school of engineering at UCCS is rated in the top 10 of public universities. And, in my opinion, Pam Shockley is an outstanding chancellor who is leading the growth and evolution of UCCS in ways that will establish a new, much more community oriented university. She's an innovator and she's developing partnerships with industry and the military to enrich and expand university offerings.
We have the USOC and its training center here, and we also have Air Force Space Command, Army Space Command, NORAD and US Northern Command here. All are world class endeavors in military space and security. By the way, how many people know that the world's GPS satellite system is flown and managed at Schriever Air Force Base?
I would argue that there is ample opportunity here for an career in engineering, science and math.
On the other hand, what this city lacks is leadership and that starts with the mayor. To do great things takes resources, focus and determination. But none of that is possible without leadership. The Broadmoor is a world class resort...5 diamonds...but without Steve Bartolin, or someone like him with vision and the ability to lead and execute, the Broadmoor doesn't maintain its distinction.
We have the Center for Creative Leadership here, and attracts people from around the country to its seminars and programs.
We have great assets here, and we have some great leadership here. Unfortunately, that leadership doesn't include our elected officials. Why, for example, does Doug Bruce, a poor excuse for a human being, have such an easy time rolling the city council? It's because the counsel is afraid to engage him publically. Bill Hybil, Steve Bartolin, Pam Shockley and others could do so if they were motivated to do so, but they keep to their own knitting.
Leadership typically emerges during a crisis (Rudy Giuliani). I'll admit that the city is approaching a crisis, so my hope is the leadership will arise. Like UCCS has done and continues to do, we need to forge new creative alliances between city leadership and community leadership to establish a vision and plan for Colorado Springs. And then, we need continuing leadership and determination to follow-up and execute that plan. We have an opportunity to take a step in that direction in the next mayoral election.
Aloha!
My wife and I moved here from L.A. We don't want to go back. Berkley is of no interest to me. I enjoy visiting Boulder, but I don't want to live there. Let's make Colorado Springs work!”
And I say, Amen to that Brother!
Sincerely,
TJL
Tim Leigh
719-337-9551
Tim@HoffLeigh.com
