Brady Westwater, aka the LA Cowboy, blogs his response to our End of Year Thoughts on Downtown and the loft boom, therein.
In what I can only fervently pray was merely a partially successful attempt at humor - normally reliable LA Curbed recently printed the LA equivalent of announcing they had just bought the Brooklyn Bridge by quoting someone called their 'housing guru'.Let me assure you we have no partial attempts at humor. We only succeed masterfully or fail miserably. He continues to pick us apart:
"Four businessman places to eat, two hipster bars and the Standard do not a draw make?"If our housing expert so chooses, he may respond in the form of a horse head in Mr. Westwater's bed. In the meantime, we stand by our statements.I don't think so.
Lastly...
"And, the biggest risk of all, there is no shortage of space downtown to convert, so they have to be VERY careful with the supply/demand mix. Unlike Malibu or the Hollywood Hills where they simply - just really can't make much more housing, there are millions of feet of rental/commercial/residential rentals to turn into condos."
OK - this is where it clear that besides knowing zero about downtown - this expert knows even less about real estate. First he says says that Downtown can't compete with Hollywood because it lacks Hollywood's urban attractions - and then he says Downtown has a problem because it can build more condos than Malibu or the Hollywood Hills - which are essentially single family neighborhoods .
· Curbed LA "Housing Market Guru - Gets Everything Wrong, Wrong, Wrong! Is This Another Wooly 'Wolf' Story? [LA Cowboy]