Value is in the eye of the beholder.
James Tarmy reports on the surprising lack of value that residential buildings designed by starchitects (i.e., the most famous of globe-trotting, high-profile-project-designing architects) find when sold on the open market.
The article launches with the example of a home designed by Steven Holl for a homeowner in the Catskills, who recently listed the property for $1.6 million, or 20 percent less than the money spent developing the property 23 years ago. Moreover, the property's real estate broker is quoted in the article saying a typical local realtor would value that house at $400,000, based just on location and square footage.
The reality of selling a "starchitect"-designed home is sobering, according to Tarmy, who includes more anecdotes, mostly from the perspective of the brokers stuck in limbo trying to sell a few famous examples around the country.
While Tarmy's coverage focuses on contemporary examples, the tough real estate market for notable historic residential architecture is also famously sluggish, like with examples from John Lautner and Frank Lloyd Wright in Los Angeles.
Read the full story: Having a Home by a Star Architect Is Amazing, Until You Try to Sell It
Institutional Investors Gaining a Larger Footprint in the Housing Market, Report Says
The locations with the fastest growing populations are seeing the most dramatic increase in investor-owned single-family housing rentals.
Survey Says: U.S. Homebuyers, Especially Gen Z, Want Walkable Neighborhoods
Generation Z is leading a new push toward walkable communities, according to a recent survey by the National Association of Realtors.
Wall Street Suddenly Buying Fewer Single-Family Homes
Rising interest rates are having a major effect in the housing market—including on the large institutional investors who spent much of the past couple of years buying up single-family homes.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
California plans to bury El Niño’s downpour
If the state plays its cards right, it may be able to store a billion acre-feet of El Niño’s water in aquifers.
Desperate measures: Advocates weigh draining Lake Powell to fill Colorado River
Draining the reservoir could reduce evaporation losses by a couple hundred thousand acre-feet.
California city breaks ground on transit connector
The project includes three mobility hubs and a pedestrian bridge.
After public outcry, Massachusetts city releases housing development tracker
Cambridge’s tracker currently shows 250 housing projects in various stages of development.
40 years after approval, Chicago breaks ground on new park
The park honors Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, the city’s first permanent non-native settler.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority