Traditional Neighborhood Development (TND) Port Marigny in Mandeville

They say that “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery” and that is the plan Steve Oubre, Project Designer at Architects Southwest, says about the lakefront traditional neighborhood development (TND) Port Marigny on the Mandeville lakefront. Port Marginy will be patterned after the “historic character” of Old Mandeville. The 78-acre project site is located on the former Pre-Stressed Concrete

Products plant just east of Lake Pontchartrain Causeway.

The waterfront development’s updated figures and renderings were presented to the Mandeville Planning and Zoning Commission July 28, 2015, and the project will only be allowed to proceed with the City Council’s approval. The City Council will hold several more meetings to allow Mandeville’s resident’s opinions to be heard before voting their final approval.
Mandeville’s residents, who attended the standing-room-only, meeting July 28, 2015, were able to ask important questions about the project’s density and potential traffic problems the new development could create. Many believe the developers of Port Marigny plan to build too many housing units which will cause traffic congestion in the area. The proposed development plans include building 429 “New Urbanism” new

homes for sale which include apartments (multi-family housing), condominiums and single-family homes on large home sites. In addition to the new construction housing units there will also be 60,000 square feet of commercial space, a 150-slip marina, a 120-room boutique hotel, a park and a town center that would feature a statue of city founder Bernard de Marigny. Traffic Consultant Rich Hall will address these concerns and has already taken preliminary traffic counts. He plans to take additional counts once school begins in August.

Richard Muller’s, attorney for Marcus Pittman owner of the property which the abandoned concrete plant sits on and who is providing guidance for the proposed project, described the focus of the project is to “facilitate the development of a vibrant, walkable, mixed-use, waterfront development that provides strong fiscal benefits for the city.” Residents who will own a new construction unit in the residential community will have narrow setbacks, large lots, sidewalks, service alleys with back access garages, streets no longer than 650 feet, and the multi-family homes will be four stories high including commercial space on the first floor.

Oubre is confident in the project. Oubre stated that his goal was to “build to the historic character” of neighboring Old Mandeville. “Old Mandeville was done right,” Oubre said. “We’re trying to replicate it.”

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Housing Market is Still on the Rise

The housing market is still on the rise and continues to improve according to the findings by the NAHB/First American Leading Markets Index (LMI).  The LMI was developed to record and monitor the recovery of select markets throughout the United States due to the Recession. There are three components (average permit, price and employment levels) that are scored in more than 360 metro areas over a 12 month period.  The scores for these components are then divided by each of their annual averages over the last period of normal growth.  The three component averages are then averaged together giving the overall score for each market.  For single-family permits and new home prices, 2000-2003 is used as the last normal period, and for employment, 2007 is used for the last normal period.

What all of this means in a nutshell is that major metro cities throughout the United States are being monitored for an increase or decrease in real estate activity following the Recession.  The percentages are calculated each month by the National Association of Home Builders and distributed amongst the public and real estate markets so that investors have an idea of how the real estate recovery is progressing nationwide.

Baton Rouge, Louisiana is one of the top recovering cities on the list of major metros on the LMI and is doing 47 percent better than the last findings recorded for the normal market level.  Southeast Louisiana shows an 85 to 92 percent recovery to the normal market level.  In fact, 75 markets out of the 360 metro areas beat their last normal levels of economic and housing activity during the second quarter this year which showed a year-over-year net gain of 13 markets (66% of markets have shown an improvement year over year).  This quarter’s LMI shows that more than half the markets nationwide have reached a 90% or above their normal market level. We are almost back to 100% of normal economic and housing activity that we had before the recession.

“The markets are gradually improving and economic and job growth continue to strengthen, which bodes well for housing for the remainder of the year,” said NAHB Chairman Tom Woods.

Out of the three components of the LMI, housing prices have shown the strongest recovery with 345 markets at the same or above their last normal level. Behind that is the economic level where 64 markets are at their normal market level or have exceeded their normal market level. Housing permit level is lagging behind with only 26 markets at normal or above normal market level.

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Strong Custom Home Building Numbers in Louisiana

Custom home building is going strong in Louisiana and at Ron Lee Homes in West St. Tammany Parish. The 2014 Census Bureau’s Survey of Construction (SOC) reports that 34 percent of the homes built in the South Central Region were custom built.  This means the home was built for you the owner, by a custom home builder, who will either build on your lot or build on a lot owned or purchased by the builder in the area of your choice in St. Tammany Parish. The other 66 percent were spec homes (speculatively-built homes) meaning they were houses built for sale or houses finished on a builders’ lot, ready for a home buyer to purchase. The house was sold to the potential buyer at one total sales price instead of selling the house and selling the land separately.

The SOC defines new home starts into several different categories which include houses built for sale, houses built by contractors, homes built by owners and for rent houses.  Not only does the SOC report if the houses are built for sale, by contractors, owners or for rent, they also report if the new home starts are being built in a community development with a homeowner’s association (HOA).  The HOA is created while the development is being built, and then ownership is turned over to a homeowner board which enforces private deed restrictions and maintains common areas.  In 2014 it is reported that 58 percent of single-family homes were built in a community with a homeowner’s association.
Why the uptick in the custom home market?  Many speculate that the limited builders’ means to borrow money via Acquisition Development and Construction (AD&C) loans have put a damper on their ability to purchase land, build a home on the land and sell the house to a potential buyer. Borrower restrictions are not new, so custom home building is the logical route to take for any builder that has vast experience and “comfort” in being able to build custom.  It was estimated that in 2014 one in four new home starts were custom homes. The custom home market is still on the rise and has reached levels above 2012-2013 but is still below the 2008-2011 levels.

At Ron Lee Homes, we build custom homes in many different subdivisions in the area including Terra Bella Village, Bedico Creek Preserve, Maison du Lac, and many more.  These communities also have established homeowners associations as well, and have lots available to buy and build a new custom home.  If you are interested in designing and having the home of your dreams built in St. Tammany Parish, Contact Ron Lee Homes at 985-626-7619 or e-mail Info@RonLeeHomes.com.