New Developments and Future Planning in Palmdale

The 47th Pavilion (Avenue R and 47th Street East) Super Target Center America’s Tire is under construction north of the Bank of America. The store will be approximately 7,300 square feet in size. Plaza Vallarta (Avenue R and 47th Street East) O’Reilly Auto Parts is constructing a 7,200 square foot store north of Chase Bank Rancho Vista Boulevard and Town Center Drive WalMart will be constructing a 40,000 square foot market on the north side of Ranch Vista Boulevard, west of Town Center Drive. The market is not a supercenter but it will include grocery. As of April there was a Tentative Tract Map 73143 requesting approval to subdivide a 40 acre parcel into two parcels, a ten acre commercial parcel and a 30 acre residential parcel. Tentative Tract Map 73158 is a request to subdivide a 30 acre parcel into 102 residential lots, including two detention basin lots. The project site is located between Avenue Q and Palmdale Boulevard, east of 42nd Street East

Several Tentative Tract Maps were Approved or Extended for Multi-Family Residential in Lancaster

42nd Street and Ave H was approved on 20 acres to build 115 single family homes. The zoning is MDR (Moderate Density Residential) which allows 1-30 units per acre such as apartments or condos. This plan is for a Residential Planned Community of 115 single-family lots with one common lot for open space and recreation facilities in the MDR and R-7,000 Zones Recommendation a time extension was given to move the tentative tract map along. Two other approvals were granted on 15.1± gross acres located on the northwest corner of future 55th Street West and future Avenue K-14 Request: This is for a subdivision of 58 single-family lots in the R-7,000 Zone Recommendation. There was a one year extension granted. The same applicant requested and extension on 12.66 acres of R-7000 zoned land for 41 single family united. At 35th Street West at J. Two smaller developments were moved forward on 1.71 acres at 52nd West at J-8. This is for 8 single family units. A follow up meeting is set for July. Another 5 acres at 32nd West at M-4 was granted a one year extension for 9 single family lots on SRR zoned land. SRR is semi-rural residential 1-2 units per 1 acre. There is some housing planned for Lancaster. Not huge 40 or 160 acre parcels but things are progressing in the growth phase.

City Of Lancaster Approved CUP (Conditional Use Permit) for Solar Power Site

This is likely not a surprise for many but recently Lancaster Planning Commission approved 89± gross acres generally bounded by Avenue I-4, Avenue J, 102nd Street West, and 105th Street West to construct a 10-megawatt photovoltaic solar generating facility on the RR-2.5 (Rural Residential 2.5) Zoned land. The subject location is designated NU (Non-Urban Residential) by the General Plan, zoned RR-2.5 (Rural Residential, minimum lot size 2.5 acres). The City of Lancaster has determined that the development and use of alternative energy is beneficial to the community, and this determination is evident in the decisions made by the City Council. This is one of many alternative energy sites the City Council has implemented. There are several solar and wind energy programs installed on City facilities, and has become a provider of solar generated electricity to local school districts and other entities. Additionally, the City’s General Plan has several objectives and policies pertaining to alternative energy. These objectives address the need to develop new sources of energy, as well as reduce energy consumption. The proposed project is consistent with the City’s goals as addressed in Policy 3.6.6, which is to Consider and promote the use of alternative energy, such as this one. The solar company is Sustainable power sPower LLC

California is Building a High Speed Rail for Florida

Brightline, being developed by All Aboard Florida. It will connect riders in Miami to Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach and Orlando via railway. This is much the same as the Calhigh Speed Rail is attempting in California, but the Cal High Speed Rail is a Government project. The Brightline Miami to Orlando project is completely privately funded. They anticipate a plan to get people out of their cars by featuring food, drinks, affordable rates and comfortable seats. They are attempting to make a train more convenient than driving a car. They will also build travel hubs with retail space, residential homes and commercial properties. These trains are being built by Siemens in Sacramento. It seems like Florida has created a more cost effective solution to high speed rail travel with private funding and control, while California very expensive system is government run and currently underfunded. Maybe California will get a clue that privately funded Brightline and the Hyperloop is a more economical solution. The bottom line though is high speed transport is the future. If you look at self driving cars, Uber and Lyft private car solutions then a personal car is not like it used to be. Additionally, the potential growth of electric buses like BVD, and electric cars like Tesla also project a more economical environmentally friendly outlook in the plans.

Selling Homes Has been Tough for the Builder, But they have a New Buyers from Abroad

CNBC reported "This is a tough market condition. We have seen the market recover since the downturn, but the recovery has been slow, steady and in a pretty tight band," said Stuart Miller, CEO of Miami-based Lennar. He said land costs and entitlement costs are getting too high. Although, the demand for an entry level home is at the highest. This area is mortgage constrained, since first time buyers can’t get a mortgage easily. The builders like Lennar are now building multiple housing development apartments and renting them. They are also building rental communities. They build the home and rent out each home in the entire community. DR Horton makes a starter home brand called “Express Homes”, which are tailored for the first time home buyer. There is a new buyer in the US and it is the Chinese. They are the primary factor driving up investments in the US. According to a CNBC report from Rosen Consulting Group the Chinese direct investment in the US commercial real estate sector and residential sales could hit $218 Billion in the next four years. Chinese foreign direct investment into the U.S. totaled about $22.3 billion in 2015, an increase from roughly $18.1 billion in the prior year, according to the report. The increase is an average of 54 Billion a year. According the CNBC reporting Chinese owners acquired at least $8.5 billion in commercial property and at least $28.6 billion in residential property in 2015. Looking to 2025, the report projected that commercial acquisitions could hit $20 billion by then and residential buying could reach $50 billion. The reason for all this new investment increase is that larger firms in China including insurance firms have not invested in the US. This large Chinese investment is based upon the Chinese government currency value, and economic uncertainty in China. The Chinese government is imposing controls on how much money can leave China, but the Chinese are still getting their money out into US Real Estate Investment. The currency devaluation issue and the rules on long term real estate investment in a communist country has been the impetus for capital to flee. In China a person only has a lease-hold on property for say 70 to 100 years, so you can not pass on real estate to heirs. This is not an issue in the US. Expect greater Chinese investment in real estate, and home builders to build apartments instead of entry level homes.

Hyperloop Firms are Both Progressing in the High Speed Transport Systems

Hyperloop is a propsed system to transport cargo and passengers in a elevated system via vacuum tubes. The system which also uses magnets to propel the tube 760 miles per hour , which would carry people or cargo from Los Angeles to San Francisco in 30 minutes. Hyperloop Transportation Technologies also known as (HTT), recently unveiled magnetic technology that will allow the pods to levitate and move. The system was developed by Lawrence Livermore Labs with HTT. HTT has exclusively licensed the system for their Hyperloop project. The way the system works is that pods will be propelled by an electric motor and the magnetic field created by permanent magnets will help the capsules levitate. Also, when the pods decelerate, the energy created will be used to recharge the batteries of the motor. There are no designed plans to make have this system in California or anywhere in the US, but it is clear that it can be a rival system to the CalHighSpeed Rail system. It will also be less expensive to construct and to use. Additionally, it will cost much much less to construct. The Hyperloop system will utilize passive levitation system which will eliminate the need for power stations along the Hyperloop track. This further cuts down on construction and further makes the system less expensive and energy efficient. This past January, HTT filed for construction permits of the first full-scale five-mile hyperloop track in Quay Valley, California, which is in central California. The company is also crowd sourcing its funding and they have over 10,000 people self funding the project. This Hyperloop system is quickly and quietly becoming a real system. Although many say it will be best used in cargo transport, which will cut down on long haul truckers. Increasingly, technology is eliminating jobs near and long term.

Clean Energy Firm SunEdison files for Bankruptcy

SunEdison is a solar and wind company that was worth almost $10 billion less than a year ago. It has a mountain of debt to deal with. It has filed for Chapter 11 reorganization in the hopes to keep it afloat. It has $300 million in new financing to continue current projects, pay wages and keep things afloat. Recently its stock SUNE was at $33 a share but it has dropped under 30 cents a share. The company had made some solar plans in the Antelope Valley, but they have done more solar and wind in South Korea and Germany. They also have two subsidiaries TerraForm Power and Terra Global with inroads in Brazil, India and China. The bankruptcy doesn’t involve these two spinoffs. There have been other solar energy bankruptcies and one a few years ago in the Antelope Valley on the far-east side in High Vista Area. First Solar operates several solar farms in Antelope Valley and it is publically traded, but a number of other solar firms are private enterprises.