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The Media Equation: In Omaha Manhole Fire Photo, Logging Off in Search of Some Clues

February 17, 2013 by Leave a Comment

So it was with an image of exploding manhole covers in Omaha that took over the Web last month. On Sunday, Jan. 27, an underground fire cut power in half of downtown. A vivid photograph of unknown provenance, showing fire shooting out of manholes on a city street, began popping up on Reddit, where it had 1.5 million views, and Gawker.

The photo — an indifferently composed shot of an event that looks very far away — would not win any Pulitzers, but something incredible seems to be under way at the precise moment it was taken. You can almost hear the sequential explosions emanating below the street: boom, boom, boom as flames appear to shoot up from hell itself.

In this age of Photoshop, it wasn’t long before the debates cropped up, on the Web and in Omaha, about the picture’s authenticity.

Matthew Hansen, a columnist at The Omaha World-Herald, wondered the same thing, and one night found himself in a bar engaged in the real-versus-fake debate. Like many photos on the Web, this one came from everywhere — forwarded, tweeted and blogged — and nowhere — there was no name on the image nor any text to indicate its origin.

Mr. Hansen, intrepid journalist that he is, solved the mystery and wrote a column about it. The photo was real, it turned out, but not in the way people thought. (More on that later.) So, did Mr. Hansen use deep photo analytics or examine metadata to peel back the truth?

Nope. There was a notebook involved, a lawyer, some phone calls, a cursory digital investigation and some street reporting, which included an interview with a man with no pants.

Shoe leather never looked or smelled so good.

Mr. Hansen’s first step in solving what he called the “Great Omaha Manhole Fire Photo of 2013” was to determine from the angle of the photo that it could have been taken from only one apartment building — called the Kensington Tower. He then used an architectural detail to conclude that it was shot from the top floor, on the west side.

He managed to gain entry to the building — that is, he sneaked in — and made his way to the top floor, where he began knocking on doors.

Mr. Hansen found a man named Kenneth who would not let Mr. Hansen in because he was indisposed — he became “Pantsless Kenneth” in the column — but said that he knew the photo in question and thought his neighbor had taken it.

But the neighbor wasn’t home, so Mr. Hansen stuck his business card in the door jamb and left.

When he returned to the office, Mr. Hansen jumped onto Reddit, found the person who had originally posted the photo there and through him found the person, Gwendolyn Olney, who had posted the photo on her Facebook page, the source for the Reddit posting. Ms. Olney happened to be the associate counsel for The World-Herald. “Omaha is indeed a small town,” Mr. Hansen wrote in his column. He began to follow the pixilated bread crumbs.

“Gwen didn’t take the photo,” he added. “She got it from Rebecca, who didn’t take the photo. She got it from Brandon, who didn’t take the photo. They led me to Gwen’s friend Andrea, who didn’t take the photo, who led me to … well, she couldn’t remember who she had gotten the photo from.”

Reading the column, you could almost hear his sigh when he wrote, “Dead end.”

Then his phone rang. “I took that photo,” the voice said.

The caller was Stephanie Sands, a graduate student at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. She said that the day after she took the photo, which she had no idea had become a sensation, she learned from her friends that a reporter was asking about it. “I was impressed that he had sneaked upstairs and put a card in my door, so I called him,” she said in an interview by phone.

Ms. Sands agreed to meet Mr. Hansen and told him that she had heard the explosion and took two photos with her phone. She sent one to friends and thought nothing more of it.

“I was actually disappointed in how it turned out,” she told me. “Because I was shooting at a distance with an iPhone, it didn’t really capture the severity of what I saw and heard.”

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/18/business/media/in-omaha-manhole-fire-photo-logging-off-in-search-of-some-clues.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Filed Under: Media Business Tagged With: , ,

In Archstone Sale, Equity Residential and AvalonBay Divide Spoils

December 5, 2012 by Leave a Comment

So it was not surprising when Equity Residential, the apartment building behemoth where Mr. Zell is chairman, announced last week that it would be the majority partner in a $16 billion deal, including the assumption of $9.5 billion in debt, to acquire Archstone, based in Englewood, Colo.

The deal, expected to close in the first quarter of next year, is the biggest real estate transaction since the Blackstone Group completed its $26 billion purchase of Hilton Hotels in November 2007, according to Real Capital Analytics, a New York research firm.

More surprising was the disclosure that Equity Residential had approached its biggest publicly traded rival, AvalonBay Communities, of Arlington, Va., last January to become its minority partner in the deal. The two companies, both real estate investment trusts, or REITs, worked together to split Archstone’s portfolio of more than 45,000 rental units as well as its development and land sites. Under the terms of the deal, AvalonBay will acquire 40 percent of Archstone.

The acquisition comes at a time when shares of once-red-hot multifamily REITs have softened even though rents and occupancy remain strong. Analysts say, however, that the market is overreacting to a slight slowdown in rent growth.

In Archstone, the buyers are getting a company that commands the highest rent among large-scale apartment companies, according to Green Street Advisors, of Newport Beach, Calif. Sixty-nine percent of Archstone’s properties are considered top quality, Green Street Advisors said, compared with 49 percent for Equity Residential and 45 percent for AvalonBay. Archstone pioneered the use of sophisticated software — much like the kind used by airlines and hotels — to keep buildings full at the highest possible rents.

In a conference call with investors last week, executives of Equity Residential and AvalonBay said the Archstone properties would complement their existing portfolios, enabling both companies to grow in a way that would not be possible with incremental deals. For Equity Residential, the deal will accelerate its long-term efforts to get out of real estate markets where it is easy for developers to keep putting up new buildings. The company plans to sell its properties in Atlanta, Orlando, Phoenix and Jacksonville.

Like the acquiring companies, Archstone is concentrated in places where zoning laws, high land costs and antidevelopment sentiment make it more challenging to build. The acquisition “allows each of us to get more of what we wanted than either of us could have gotten on our own,” Timothy J. Naughton, chief executive at AvalonBay, said on the call.

AvalonBay, itself the product of a merger, has been known mainly as a developer, while Equity Residential has grown mainly through acquisitions. But Equity Residential will acquire four of Archstone’s current development projects, to AvalonBay’s three, and 15 sites to be developed in the future. AvalonBay will take on just three land parcels.

The executives said each company got exactly what it wanted. Mr. Naughton said that his company would pick up 23 additional buildings in Southern California, a market that AvalonBay views as very promising.

David J. Neithercut, chief executive of Equity Residential, said the deal would increase the company’s holdings in San Francisco by 48 percent and Boston by 41 percent. “These have been extremely challenging markets in which to increase our exposure,” he said.

Executives from Equity Residential and AvalonBay declined requests for interviews. Robert M. White Jr., president of Real Capital Analytics, predicted that in the near future, other REITs are likely to grow in the same way. “The existing REITs have tremendous access to capital — capital a private owner can’t get,” he said. “That really favors some of the bigger REITs getting even bigger.”

While Equity Residential and AvalonBay were devising plans to carve up Archstone over the last year, Lehman Holdings, the owner of Archstone, was also pursuing an alternative strategy to take the company public. Archstone had a long history as a public company when Lehman Brothers and Tishman Speyer bought it in 2007, in a $22 billion deal that ultimately helped bring about Lehman’s downfall.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/05/realestate/commercial/in-archstone-sale-equity-residential-and-avalonbay-divide-spoils.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

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Square Feet: Harrison, N.J., Pins Its Hopes on Housing Commuters

October 31, 2012 by Leave a Comment

A flurry of development is under way in this 1.2-mile-long town along the Passaic River, across from Newark. A 275-unit upscale apartment building was fully leased within seven months of its 2011 opening. On the heels of that success, other developers have broken ground on residential, retail and commercial projects in a redevelopment zone that circles the town’s New Jersey PATH station.

Nine developers have pledged $650 million over 10 years to transform 275 acres of abandoned, deteriorating manufacturing buildings into the next outpost on New Jersey’s Gold Coast. In all, a third of Harrison will be rebuilt, adding 3,000 units of housing to a town with 14,500 residents. When the work is finished, a community that was once a bustling manufacturing hub will depend on commuters looking for affordable, chic housing.

“What alternative do we have? It’s going to create jobs, I hope,” said the town’s mayor, Raymond McDonough, a retired plumber who has been mayor for nearly 18 years. “It’s going to create tax revenue for the town.” The amount of taxes the town can collect, however, will be limited by a 30-year tax abatement granted to the developers.

In the most critical improvement for the area, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey will begin work this year on a $256 million upgrade of the town’s 76-year-old PATH station. Developers are pinning their hopes for the area on the PATH train, which provides a 25-minute ride to Manhattan.

Developers hope that the virtually unknown Harrison — unlike nearby Newark, which has struggled to shake its downtrodden image — can draw commuters priced out of the trendy Hoboken and Jersey City markets.

Damage caused by Hurricane Sandy, of course, may lead to construction delays at the station and at other projects in the area.

More than two million passengers used Harrison Station in 2011. By 2022, the agency expects ridership to rise to 3.4 million. The station upgrade will expand the station platform to allow for trains with more cars.

“The jewel here is the train station. That’s your raw material,” said Jeffrey J. Milanaik, president of Heller Industrial Parks, which is demolishing several turn-of-the-century factories on a 10-acre parcel near Frank E. Rodgers Boulevard. Early next year, Heller will begin work on 95 rental units and 15,000 square feet of retail, the first phase of a $200 million plan to build 747 units of housing.

Other new developments are also under way: Advance Realty broke ground in September on a 50,000-square-foot research and technology center for Panasonic; Advance is also building, with Russo Development, a 326-unit rental property with 1,000 square feet of retail; Millennium Homes and the Roseland Property Company will break ground next month on 140 rental units on First Street; and work will begin this fall on a 138-room Element hotel.

Rents are lower in Harrison than in other towns along the PATH line. The average rent for an apartment in the new development is $1,863 a month, compared with $2,900 in Hoboken or $3,067 in Jersey City, according to data provided by Brian J. Whitmer, a senior director at Cushman and Wakefield.

“Harrison is the next step out,” Mr. Whitmer said. “If you can’t afford $3,000 a month to live in Hoboken, but you want new construction and entertainment, you can come to Harrison.”

For now, amenities are sparse. The new rental building, Harrison Station at 300 Somerset Street, has 12,800 square feet of retail, but only two spaces are filled, with a Five Guys Burger and Fries and a deli that sells some groceries. Pro Cuts, GNC, a dry cleaner and a Japanese restaurant are expected to open in the next few months.

“Harrison is really like new build,” said David Barry, president of Ironstate Development Company, which built 300 Somerset Street with the Pegasus Group. “We’re creating a neighborhood from whole cloth and trying to give it a sense of place.”

By the end of the year, the team will break ground on the Element hotel, an extended-stay hotel that will charge visitors about $150 a night. The seven-story hotel will sit across the street from 300 Somerset, wrapping around a 1,440-car garage the team built in 2010. The Hudson County Improvement Authority operates the garage and Harrison receives the revenue from it. Eventually, Ironstate and Pegasus plan to build five more apartment buildings with about 2,000 units and 67,000 square feet of retail.

Mr. McDonough hatched the redevelopment plan in 1998, and it has been plagued by setbacks ever since. The Sept. 11 attacks delayed the project. But by 2006, a 170-room Hampton Inn had opened along the river. And in 2007, the first condo development opened: River Park at Harrison, an 86-unit riverfront complex built by Roseland and Millennium. But by the time the second phase opened in 2008, the economy had collapsed and the developers struggled to sell units. Their problems were worsened by a neighboring property: a chemical plant that turned off buyers.

Even the successes had problems. After the $200 million Red Bull Arena — home of the New York Red Bulls, the major league soccer team — opened in the redevelopment zone in 2010, the town was mired in a tax dispute with the arena’s owners. Without the revenue stream, the town could not make bond payments on the $39 million it had borrowed to buy the land for the 2,500-seat arena. In 2011, Moody’s Investment Services downgraded Harrison’s credit rating to junk.

“The stadium has seriously endangered Harrison’s ability to maintain its governmental functions with the debt load that it’s now carrying,” said Gordon MacInnes, president of New Jersey Policy Perspective, a government watchdog group.

The courts ruled in Harrison’s favor in January and in July the arena’s owners paid $5.6 million in back taxes. During the dispute, the town raised property taxes and cut municipal jobs. In August, Moody’s revised the town’s credit outlook to positive.

Red Bull declined to comment on the tax dispute, citing the continuing legal case. The owners could still appeal.

“It didn’t work out the way we planned, but we’re getting there,” said Mr. McDonough.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/31/realestate/commercial/harrison-nj-pins-its-hopes-on-housing-commuters.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

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Square Feet: An Indiana Town Tries to Lure Renters With Ballpark Views

June 29, 2011 by Leave a Comment

The Harrison, a four-story rental apartment building with 42 one- and two-bedroom units, will have balconies overlooking Parkview Field, the home of the Fort Wayne TinCaps, a minor-league team named for the headgear worn by John Chapman, a k a Johnny Appleseed, who is reportedly buried in this city of about 250,000 in northeast Indiana.

“It’s entirely conceivable you could catch a home run sometime,” said Jason Freier, the chief executive of Hardball Capital of Atlanta and the owner and managing partner of the 6,100-seat, $31 million stadium that opened in April 2009. “It would take a heck of a shot, but there have been balls hit over the condominium site already.”

The $110 million redevelopment effort, called Harrison Square, so far includes the ballpark, a brand-new Marriott Courtyard hotel and a 900-space parking garage; and skywalks to connect the Marriott and an existing Hilton hotel to the expanded Grand Wayne Convention Center, which will host the 2012 state Democratic convention.

But the Harrison, a 100,000-square-foot structure that will also have space for retail stores and offices, has been stalled by the recession and the inability to get financing. On June 13, a little more than two years after it was supposed to be finished, Mayor Tom C. Henry announced a private-public partnership that will finance the $18 million building.

“We started that last leg at the worst possible time,” said Mayor Henry, a Democrat who is running for re-election this year. “When the economy took a nose dive is when we needed everything put together. Once the needle began to point upward, banks started to get a little more generous.”

In the end, the project was awarded to PNC Bank of Pittsburgh, which will be responsible for about $8 million. The remaining money will be provided by others in the partnership, including Barry Real Estate of Atlanta and two local developers, Mark Hagerman of Hagerman Construction and Simon Dragan of Whitley Manufacturing Company, who will provide “north of $1 million each,” Mr. Henry said.

Hardball Capital will put $950,000 into the project via incremental payments while at the same time committing to $1 million worth of improvements to the ballpark over the next decade.

The public component consists of $4 million to $6 million in state and federal tax credits that can be sold.

“We also think that getting this project done is good for the city, and what’s good for the city is also important for us,” said Mr. Freier of Hardball. He and others credit Graham Richard, the city’s mayor from 2000 to 2008, with bringing the project from concept to reality.

“When I came here, we didn’t have an aggressive downtown development plan,“ said Mr. Richard, a Democrat who now is in private business and has a downtown office “within eyesight” of Harrison Square. “We didn’t have what I’d call an infrastructure that was attractive.”

The project was approved in April 2007. The property consisted of parking lots and old rental homes, Mr. Richard said, and once the blueprint was set down, the land was acquired in 18 months without resorting to eminent domain.

At the same time, Hardball Capital was looking to acquire the 15-year-old minor league ballpark on the north side of town and the team, then known as the Fort Wayne Wizards.

Mr. Freier, whose company also owns the Savannah Sand Gnats, said he wanted a new ball field that could be used for other sporting and local events. “You couldn’t get a semi truck out on the playing field,” said Mr. Richard, “so you couldn’t do rock concerts.”

The comfortable, retro-looking ballpark, built with Indiana sandstone and red brick, can be expanded to accommodate up to 8,000 people. In addition to concerts it is the site of N.C.A.A. Division I baseball and soccer games and local events like walk-a-thons and family movie nights using the Jumbotron. A ticket on game day can cost as little as $5, officials said.

Last Sept. 1, the 250-room Marriott Courtyard hotel and a 900-space parking garage opened, both of them overlooking Parkview Field. The $30 million undertaking by White Lodging, a Merrillville, Ind. real estate firm specializing in hotels, more than doubled the number of hotel rooms within walking distance of the convention center. The mayor and Mr. Richard like to boast that the Indiana State Democratic Convention has scheduled its 2012 convention in Fort Wayne because there are finally enough rooms to accommodate 2,000 convention-goers.

“It has not been outside Indianapolis for 80 years,” Mr. Henry said.

Those convention revelers will be able to enjoy an enhanced downtown. The new skywalks link the hotels to the convention center, and one links the Marriott to the historic Embassy Theater. The Fort Wayne Botanical Gardens are less than a block away, and other nearby attractions within walking distance are the city art museum and public library, a history museum and the Allen County Courthouse, a 1902 Beaux Arts architectural gem designated a national historic landmark in 2003.

The Harrison will have 25,000 square feet of retail space at street level and the same amount of office space on the second floor. Barry Real Estate said it had lined up Three Rivers Federal Credit Union and O’Reilly’s Irish Bar Restaurant, an Indianapolis-based chain, for 6,000 square feet so far. Carson Boxberger, a local law firm, has leased the second floor.

The challenge now will be luring younger singles and retired people to live in a downtown that is roomy and clean but somewhat unexciting, said Craig Klugman, the editor of The Journal Gazette, Fort Wayne’s morning daily newspaper. The Harrison is projected to be completed by March 2013.

“I think if they price them right, there will be a certain market for people who want to live downtown,” said Mr. Klugman, who said he thought the relatively easy commute of most downtown workers made it more difficult to attract renters.

Mr. Henry said city leaders were working hard to make downtown Fort Wayne “a point of destination for people.”

“You know Fort Wayne is in the Midwest,” he said. “We don’t have the mountains of the West. We don’t have the oceans of the coast. We decided that downtown is what that destination should be.”

Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=6641d996ec59a4b4e5d9e3dbb2fd7fc6

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