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Show Page 10b Enterprise Review, February 25, 1976 Financial Summary Patrick J. Vaculin The decision facing us in the mortgage business is whether to wait for rates to come down even further or to place an offering at todays prices. Agency Purchase of Theatre Saves Tax Money The Capitol Theatre may hold public hearings regardbecome city property by April. ing the purchase on February The city Redevelopment 24 and 26. Chitwood said the citys Agency has announced intentions to buy the Capitol Theadecision to purchase the tre with part of its reserve of theatre rather than let the $1 million in federal funds. county purchase it directly is After purchasing the building, designed to save local tax the city will sell it to the dollars. We can buy the property at county who will convert it into a dance theatre, as prescribed fair market value with federal by the recent bond issue. money. Then, the property Mike Chitwood, director of will be reappraised, with deed the Agency, said the local restrictions which say the firms of Edward P. Westra, building must be restored and MIA and Ray S. Fletcher, MIA turned into a dance theatre. will appraise the theatre to Such restrictions will lower the determine fair market value. value. So we can sell the The city commission will property to the county for a lower price than we paid, Chitwood explained. Thirty days after the February hearings, the city commission will hold another hearing. If all goes well, Chitwood said, he expects Redevelopment to sell the theatre to the county by July, 1976. No Plans Smoldering for Congress Hotel The smell of stale smoke and wet plywood may soon disappear from 2nd South and State, site of the old Congress Investment Summary Chuck Akerlow Hotel. According to Mrs. Louise Costello, of Michael S. Costello Co., wreckers of the property, workers expect to finish demolition work within four weeks. of Rudy Zander, the property, has stated he has no definite plans for the space. I have had offers to buy and offers to develop, he said, but we have no definite co-own- Recently in this column I Utahs rate of development growth was not as great as the state government said it was. My view was based essentially upon the empirical evidence of a plentiful supply of warehouse space, industrial ground and office space going at bargain prices, particularly when compared to other markets. In the January and February issues of Shopping Center World , independent research verified my observations. Nineteen criteria were used to measure markets across the nation. These said criteria included shopping center square footage per resident, sales per square foot, sales growth, income, current economic prosperity and forecasted ecopcr-capi- ta nomic viability. Utah ranked 22nd out of 50, achieving 525 points against 849 for the top state, California, and 297.5 for the bottom state, Montana. The report observed: If there are no sites in greater Salt Lake City, there aren't any in Utah. Actually, SLC, is part of a fairly sizeable sprawl, encompassing such cities as Ogden and Bountiful to the North and Murray, Orem and Provo to the South. Logan and Brigham City further north could also be considered part of that area. There just isnt enough of a market anywhere else in the state to require anything much larger than a community center. The state is under-- plans yet. er SOLAR ENERGY According to Housing and Development Reporter, the first large-scal- e test of solar energy to heat and cool homes will be financed by a HUD grant of $1 million. HUD made the first grants to builders, public agencies and universiMost of us have heard the ties to install 143 units in housand multi-famil- y phrase, Now is the time to single in 27 states. buy. It is evident now that ing yields are apparently approaching bottom. Some buyers MORTGAGE RATES are chasing rates, waiting for them to go lower still. Recent comments by lenders, realtors, and businessRates, though may or may men concerning the mortgage not hit bottom in the next few rate section in this paper have weeks. It seems investors are been most Some not quite so confident with lenders feelinteresting. that publishing market conditions. They seem the rates should be stopped a bit reluctant to reduce their while others applaud and say liquidity to minimum-prob-a- bly more. Realtors are in fearful that the money more, almost favor, unanimously. market will again tighten up. it They say keeps them up to date and is of great benefit to Investors also feel that if their clients. Businessmen they continue to purchase look to the rates as an indicaloans at the continuing lower tor of what to expect in the rates they will not generate long term. If nothing else, the enough income to pay for the rates create an atmosphere of costs of their funds. competition between lenders. MORTGAGE RATES dards, but a whole new set of rules holds swayin the western states with the wide open spaces. Utahns picture is brighter than Colorado's, essentially because of the policies of Governor Lamm and the militant views of the environmentalists. Colorado is no-grow- also over-centere- th d by national a turnover standards, with rate of little more than $74 per square foot. The only hope in New Mexico is Albuquerque. Arizona growth has slowed in Phoenix and Tucson and Nev- ada is considered to be overcentered. The problem with seeing a rapid Utah growth is the same in the other surrounding states-a- ll those mountains and no people.' Add the environmentalists and the problem is worse. Utah's growth will be steady and sure. But we can be grateful that we are not on the precipice of a gigantic boom such as was experienced in Colorado in the late 50's and carlv 60s. These rates were obtained by telephone conversation with the above institutions. 'The rates are correct to the best of our knowledge but their accuracy cannot be guaranteed. |