Primurbia

I have always been a big fan of Joel Kotkin's writing. His book "The City, A Global History" should be on every developer's bookshelf and is one of those works that should be re-read every couple of years. It would sober up many a person chasing the next hot real estate trend. A couple of weeks ago he published an interesting piece documenting some of the research he has been doing on urban movement patterns. In a column titled "Suburban Idyll" he points out that the boomer generation that is, if you subscribe to the popular wisdom, picking up and moving into the city is in fact staying put: "Eighty percent of all moves by suburbanites over 50 were . . . well . . . to another suburban home, almost eight times the number that bought in the inner city."

What the heck is a developer - a trade that Kotkin chides openly in much of his work - bringing this to your attention? It is because of the investment you are making. There is a lot of press about the "rebirth" of downtowns. Developers have honed in on this "trend," and are preparing to deliver a lot of units in a relatively short time span. While I have no doubt that, in time, these units will be absorbed, much of the initial purchase activity is being done by investors hoping to turn a quick profit. When you read about communities that sell out in 48-hours and the like, the bulk of those contracts are not to end users. They are to investors. Nothing wrong with this at all, it is a free market. But, I think, it inflates the demand numbers and leads developers to conclude that they can build forever. Call me a skeptic, but I do believe that the real estate "cycle" still exists. For most people, a home purchase is the single largest purchase they will make. It is crucial to understand the macro-economic picture behind the location of their purchase.
Enter "Primurbia." M2H Group has focused on this area with our "for-sale" product. Primurbia is the first ring of suburbs outside of the downtown core. It is, for us here in Nashville, Midtown. Primurbia has all the support services in place: restaurants, shops, services. It has established neighborhoods...many with distinct characters that will enhance the value of your home. There are still plenty of people alive today that grew up in Midtown and recall 18th Avenue as a delightful neighborhood. Primurbia does not allow the kind of intense development that the urban core allows. The result is a product that is unique and limited in number...ideal characteristics for a potential resale! In short, Primurbia/Midtown Nashville is exactly the kind of place the Joel Kotkin is referring to in his column.
Don't get me wrong...I am a big fan of downtown redevelopment. But I think it is more of a pioneering venture for end users that want to purchase. We are the co-redevelopers of the Stahlman Building downtown, which has been very well received. But Stahlman is a rental option. It allows people to experiment with the option of downtown living without taking the purchase plunge. I look forward to the day when downtown is thriving with a diverse population, but remain convinced that that change is going to happen gradually. And when that day arrives, Midtown will still be a thriving, comfortable neighborhood that will be viewed as extremely desirable.