By Michael Fitzgerald

I dined and dashed at Casa Flores on Thursday. Breezed right on out without paying.

The breakfast talk given by David Harzoff, Stockton's new revitalization director, was so interesting I followed him out without paying for my bacon and eggs.

What captured my attention was how downtown's comeback has proceeded beyond controversially expensive pyramid-building to a focus on housing and smaller projects. A focus with little action, thanks to the recession.

Still, it is interesting to hear his plan.

"Housing downtown," Harzoff said. "We've got to start at the easy place. Where's the easiest way?"

His conclusion: Fremont Street just northwest of downtown, a pretty good neighborhood already. "So help the bad blocks in there. Keep that neighborhood strong. So folks feel safe walking to the cinema." And filtering into downtown.

Also housing around Fremont Park.

Next, the nearby block north of Dean De Carli Waterfront Square, site of the outmoded state office building, should be a "linkage block" through which neighbors can stroll through downtown, Harzoff said. Instead, it is a barrier.

So tear the building down, he said. Relocate state workers if need be into a specially designed HQ. Rebuild a place for retail, cafes, something that complements the plaza.

Next door, a developer proposes to redo the B+M Building on Janet Leigh Plaza with a ground-floor family restaurant, a "gourmet" hot dog window, a second-floor dance club and third-floor private club. His vision includes restaurant seating out on the plaza and occasional outdoor music.

"All of a sudden, that plaza starts feeling a lit more like a district," Harzoff said approvingly.

Many young people (and others) want to live downtown, Harzoff said.

"But they want certain amenities. Clubs, cafes ... " Oops.

The city of Stockton, still fighting the '60s - and a premier manufacturer of red tape - hampers many such efforts. How to change that?

"All I can say is you have to be pragmatic, right?" Harzoff replied. "You have to do the things that politically you can do. Hopefully there's some middle ground there that's acceptable and attractive enough."

A telling answer. No talk of transforming the establishment, or dragging it kicking and screaming. A shift in tone.

Harzoff showed political acumen on another sensitive issue. Downtown's redevelopment district is broke. It may have to borrow from other districts. Southsiders in particular do not like that. Some council members oppose it, too.

This sticking point is being addressed in two ways, Harzoff said. First, he is merging two Port redevelopment districts with the downtown district.

That may sound obscure. But it amounts to a correction of a fundamental, long-standing mistake. Downtown's redevelopment district was like one of Mexico's economically wimpy municipios, a government district drawn too small and poor to generate the funding to provide adequate services.

Merging it with two districts at the port, where business is robust, gives it access to millions. But, Harzoff hastened to add, all these dollars will not be taken from the port, which is generating sorely needed jobs.

The second policy shift is balance. A share for downtown, a share for the port, a share for the south side and other districts. Not robbing Peter to pay Paul until Peter threatens a recall.

Farther down Fremont he envisions a "vibrant street of mixed uses with a high density of activity," meaning lots of pedestrians and comings and goings at new places. Keeping the boatyards and home-improvement craftsmen already there.

I was surprised to hear the city is extending options for T.W. Starkweather, the developer who appeared in a blaze of visionary ideas years ago, then disappeared.

Harzoff said the city is imposing performance criteria. "If he performs, he can stay in position; if he doesn't, we'll go find somebody else."

If he performs, "Block 5" across from the transit center will be a pub and other commercial outlets servicing the courthouse crowd - for whom there are plans to erect a 12-story court building at Hunter Square. A new iconic building visible from Interstate 5.

New residential neighborhoods are being designed from the Channel's north and south shores backward into the city for blocks of street grids old and new.

Boat clubs from all over are already champing to use the marina under construction, Harzoff said.

As for the arena and the three vacant restaurant pads, Harzoff stopped short of saying it was badly (re)designed.

"I leave you with this observation: ... There are young people growing up today that will never know downtown at its low point. They view downtown as maybe not the most attractive place you go, but it is a place you go for sporting activities or moves. Their orientation has changed somewhat."

The implication to downtown's comeback: "It's doable."

When I realized my mistake, I went back to Casa Flores and paid my bill.

"No problem," the owner said. "Next time we charge you first."

Contact columnist Michael Fitzgerald at (209) 546-8270 or michaelf@recordnet.com.

April 17, 2009

University Park, the midtown home of CSU Stanislaus-Stockton Center, could be one of the city's prime redevelopment areas. But commercial and business development on the grounds of the old Stockton State Hospital has faltered, largely because of the recession.

Its redevelopment was nudged this week with the announcement that a Los Angeles-based company will open a 14,000-square-foot grocery there.

Fresh & Easy, described as a cross between a convenience store, ususally about 5,000 square feet, and a full-size grocery, about 50,000 square feet, not only will bring a retail presence to the University Park project but also will serve a largely underserved area of midtown. Although convenience stores dot the area, the closest full-service grocery is at Pacific and Alpine, about two miles away. The new store will be within walking distance of much of the residential area surrounding University Park.

It will be the first of what are said to be plans for up to a half-dozen Fresh & Easy stores in Stockton, although company officials declined to comment.

The recession doesn't seem to be slowing the company's expansion. Started in 2007 as the recession was settling in, Fresh & Easy has 118 stores in Southern California, Las Vegas and Phoenix. And plans have been announced to open 19 stores in Sacramento and 18 in the Bay Area.

The University Park store will be about 40 percent larger than the company's typical market. Besides more market choices for midtown customers, Fresh & Easy also will bring 20 to 30 entry level jobs to Stockton. And if there are more stores, obviously there will be more jobs.

At University Park a good number of the old hospital buildings. have been leveled. There is a new parking lot for the California State University satellite campus with another, 200-plus space lot to be built for San Joaquin County's Behavioral Health Services campus nearby. Richard Pittman Elementary School is on the grounds, and a 63,000-square-foot building houses the Valley Mountain Regional Center, that provides services to those with developmental disabilities.

Future development includes retail and business facilities, apartments and condominiums.

Fresh & Easy is a retail start and a sign that one company believes in Stockton and knows this recession will end.

April 14, 2009 6:00 AM

Foreclosure properties are still hot sellers and continue to dominate the residential market in the San Joaquin County.

They're selling so well that the number of houses on the market plunged last month as sales jumped, according to new figures from the Grupe Real Estate-Trendgraphix monthly sales report, based on Multiple Listing Service data.

Historically low interest rates have combined with prices driven low by foreclosures to bring out lots of buyers, said Mike Collins of Collins Realty in Stockton.

"We're seeing the inventory draining down," he said.

The number of existing houses for sale last month dropped to 2,668 from 3,187 in February - a 16.3 drop.

That's the lowest number of existing homes for sale in the county since June 2005.

Meanwhile, sales jumped from 888 in February to 1,056 in March - an 18.9 percent increase.

Sales had been on the decline since December mostly because many foreclosures have been delayed by voluntary foreclosure moratoriums by lenders and a state law that beginning last fall requires lenders to at least attempt to contact homeowners to try to modify a loan before proceeding with foreclosure.

Brokers had been saying that they were expecting sales to jump again in April from an expected new wave of backlogged foreclosure properties that had been delayed only by the temporary moratoriums and the state law.

Those new foreclosures haven't materialized, yet, though.

"They're out there," Collins said. "They're just not on the market."

There definitely was a slowdown in foreclosure activity because of the state law, said Sean O'Toole, founder and CEO of ForeclosureRadar, a Discovery Bay firm that tracks the California foreclosure scene.

But lenders may be hesitating to put new foreclosure properties on the market because of federal efforts that might result in buying lenders' toxic loans, he said.

"I think some of the banks are kind of hanging on to see if they can get a better deal from the taxpayer than they can on the open market," O'Toole said. "A lot of foreclosures are still in the pipeline, but they're not coming out on the market yet."

Andrew LePage, an analyst with the real estate research firm DataQuick Information Systems in La Jolla, said it's unclear how many foreclosures are in some sort of holding pattern.

Properties perhaps are being held up either by paperwork logjams or by efforts to modify loans, pursue short sales or negotiate a deed in lieu of foreclosure - the homeowner just hands over the keys back to the lender without foreclosure, he said. And some lenders may be reluctant to just dump a lot of properties into the market at the same time, he said.

In San Joaquin County, there are thousands of foreclosed properties that haven't been sold, based on DataQuick numbers: About 14,500 houses were repossessed by lenders in an 18-month period ending Jan. 31, and 72 percent of those have been resold. That leaves more than 4,000 repossessed houses still unsold.

The foreclosures are still trickling in - and being swooped up fast - said Ben Balsbaugh, residential sales manager for PMZ Real Estate in Stockton.

"We just need more inventory to meet all our buyers' needs," he said. "Everyone has more buyers than inventory."

At any rate, prices continued to fall in this foreclosure-dominated market. The median sales price of existing houses in San Joaquin County dropped to $149,000 last month from $152,000 in February.

As of the end of March, there were 915 foreclosure properties on the market countywide. At the current foreclosure sales rate, those would be gone in a month.

Contact reporter Bruce Spence at (209) 943-8581 or bspence@recordnet.com.  

Thursday, April 2, 2009

C.A.R. Launches Mortgage Protection Program

I am very pleased to announce that this Thursday, April 2, C.A.R. will launch a new program designed to provide peace of mind to first-time buyers who are hesitant to enter the housing market due to concerns about potential job loss, and subsequently being unable to meet their monthly mortgage obligations.

Through the C.A.R. Housing Affordability Fund Mortgage Protection Program (C.A.R.H.A.F. MPP), first-time home buyers who lose their jobs due to layoffs may be eligible to receive up to $1,500 per month for up to six months to help make their mortgage payments. A qualified co-buyer also can participate in the program, for a reduced monthly benefit of $750 per month for up to six months in the event of a job loss. Program benefits also include coverage for accidental disability and a $10,000 death benefit. C.A.R.’s Housing Affordability Fund is dedicating $1 million to the program this year, and estimates that as many as 3,000 families will benefit from the program throughout 2009.

To qualify for the Mortgage Protection Program, applicants must:
. Be a first-time home buyer – someone who has not owned a home in the last three years
. Open escrow April 2, 2009, or later, and close on or before Dec. 31, 2009
. Use a California REALTOR® in the transaction
. Purchase the property in California
. Be a W-2 employee (cannot be self-employed or military personnel)
 

First-time home buyers must request an application for the H.A.F. Mortgage Protection Program from their REALTOR®. For applications and other information on this exciting new program, go to www.car.org/aboutus/hafmainpage/ or contact Monica Rodriguez at (213) 739-8380 or monicar@car.org.

The Mortgage Protection Program is a proactive approach by C.A.R. to address consumers’ concerns about the real estate market and their ability to make their mortgage payments should they loose their jobs. I encourage you to take full advantage of this new program by sharing information about the C.A.R.H.A.F. Mortgage Protection Program with your clients. There is no cost to either you or your clients to participate.

Sincerely,

James Liptak
2009 C.A.R. President  

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Update on mortgage rates