BusinessQuotes

Somerset Mauham

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  • Philip had cultivated a certain disdain for idealism. He had always had a passion for life, and the idealism he had come across seemed for the most part a cowardly shrinking away from it. The idealist withdrew himself, because he could not suffer the jostling of the human crowd; he had not the strength to fight and so called the battle vulgar; he was vain, and since his fellows would not take him at his own estimate, consoled himself with despising his fellows.

  • — Somerset Mauham
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Quotes

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Real estate is often an area that highlights the role of luck and chance, as its value is overwhelmingly driven by location, yet the value of that location may change for many reasons, and often change dramatically, for reasons having nothing at all, and in fact in no control, of the owner. It’s easy to see how someone buys a large parce of land in a rather distant suburb of a major city, simply because he needs a large piece of land for his modest business. But over the years, having nothing to do with the forsight of the owner, that piece of land might become worth many millions, as the development inexorably creeps out to the what were once outlying areas. This is a process that enriches, quite by accident, many small business owners who happened to buy a large parcel of land simply because it was cheap and fit their present business needs, only to find the location catch fire, and the land to rise dramatically in value. An even better, and a bit more unusual example, can be found with the High Line in New York. The High Line is an elevated railroad track built in the 1930s to service the warehouses on Manhattan’s West Side. There was certainly nothing glamourous or even attractive about the area at the time. The timing was terrible; as soon as the track was built, railroad traffic ground to a halt due to the Depression and competition from trucking. The last train ran on the High Line in 1980, after which it was pretty much abandoned to become just another piece of industrial waste. Not only did it not have value; it had negative value; the cost of pulling it down was estimated at $5 million, and in 1984 the track’s owners, ConRail, sold the track for $10 to a transportation consultant in order to avoid being responsible for demolition costs. (The sale was later voided.) For many people argued what should be done about the track, with the prevailing consensus being that it should be torn down. As usual, there were years of litigation, and occasionally some dreamer would step forward with a plan to revitalize the track, and surrounding areas, into a park, or something else. One of the plans was to turn it into a 22 block long swimming pool. In 2001, in his last days as mayor, Rudolph Giuliani put the process in motion to have the High Line demolished. However, the events of 9.11.01, have put New Yorkers in a mood of radically reinventing the city, what with the rebuilding and renassiance of the World Trade Center, and the whole financial district. Although the idea of making over the High Line area had kicked around for years, the timing, and the involvement of Joshua David, a former freelance journalist with an interest in urban design, and Robert Hammond, a marketing and Internet consultant. Both were young, 29 and 35, when they began their Quioxtic battle to save the High Line, and formed the non profit lobbying group Friends of the High Line. They filed suit against the city to prevent the demolition, but it was really luck, with some celebrities happening to fasten onto this as the cause of the moment, and good timing, plus the sudden realization by developers and architects that the recreation of the area had all sorts of amazing redevelopment opportunities. Now, eight years after beginning the fight, what once seemed impossible is now unstoppable. There are already many major hotels and residential buildings under construction along the High Line, with big time developers and famous architects. Who benefits? Well, hopefully, in some way, David and Hammond will benefit, although it’s not exactly clear how. But for sure, those who own property along the High Line, many of whom initially opposed David and Hammond and the Friends of the High Line, will benefit in a major way; people like Douglas Oliver, who with a partner, bought a warehouse on on Tenth Avenue, between 25th and 26th streets. In 1978, on the eve of the last trains running down the High Line, they bought the warehouse and underlying ground for $75,000. He’s turned down offers of over $100 million; and for good reason; down the block, housing trendy new restaurants like Craftsteak and Del Posto, is a building that Recently sold for $150 M. As Oliver says, “These days around here, you see women in fur coats buying million dollar paintings. When I bought the place (which was a rough industrial area known for transvestites) the women in fur coats around here were usually men. But Oliver, to his credit, was actually an early supporter of the High Line, and even made a donation to help the Friends of the High Line, who he acknowledges for his good fortune: “This is a gold mine. The landlords should be thanking them.”.

—High Line development in NYC
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