The picture says a lot. There has been a LOT of dirt moved around to make a level spot for our 17,554 sqft of building!

The pad is the reddish dirt. That’s the footprint of the building. The area where we decided to place the building was relatively ‘flat’. I put that in quotes since it did have a 10′ change from the front to the back of the property.  So if you look carefully you can see the bowl at the back of the property. The red dirt pad has another 10-12″ to go.

At the same time, next week, we’ll have the other big guns starting landscape, curbs, electrical…. a lot of parking lot infrastructure work going on. The actual entry to the site will look awesome in about 3 months. We HOPE to go to bid on the actual construction of the building around the first week of February.

We need this building for many reasons, the least of which is the sad shape of the current building that we are in. It’s rental space. EVERY time it rains, we have issues. We have plastic sheeting handy to put over some computer gear in one office (grrrr). The building owner is trying to get it fixed, but they have tried for about 7 years now without success.

Anyway…. we’re all getting excited. Just WAIT till you see this beauty. To keep up with the latest and to see the live cameras (where I got this picture), go to www.CorporateGreenTyler.com . There’s lots of info and pictures there along with the links to the live cameras!

Time to give you “… the REST of the story…” as Paul Harvey used to say.

I’ll spare a lot of the detail and try to cut to the current status of things. We are NOT QUITTING! We have put the original building concept on hold for 2-5 years.

Lessons Learned- “After a deep analysis of all the cost categories, I found out I was wrong.”

GREEN- I estimated that 10-12% of the cost of the building was attributable toward being LEED Silver/Gold. It ends up that about 25% of the cost ($65/sqft) went to making the LEED certification happen. When you look at a gap, from the appraisal to the actual construction cost, of $100/sqft, being LEED certified began to look like it was the major cost contributor. It wasn’t the ONLY contributor, but it was involved. So we decided to work on a ‘bridge’ building for Genesis that was, how shall I say it…. ‘light green’. Use smart energy and construction principals, recycle construction materials, but don’t spend an extra $65,000 to build access to a future bus stop that may never happen just to get the LEED points!

MULTISTORY- Phenomenal idea and concept to build a three story structure into a hillside. The energy savings is great and the POW of the building is off the charts. But there is significant cost to add an elevator, the steel for multistory is higher, waterproof retaining walls are expensive. None of this is wrong or bad. But it all adds to the cost. IF we got appraisal credit for all this, it would be great, but we get very little credit for it. We decided that a ‘predictable’, singe story building was what we needed to construct as a ‘bridge’ building.

CHIFF- CHIFF is: Clever, High Quality, Innovative, Functional & Fun. Everything we do has to be CHIFF. The original building was the definition of CHIFF, and that came at a price.  We learned that we could still do lots of CHIFF, if we did it differently.

WE HAVE CHANGED- We realized that we, as a company, have changed since we began designing the original building.  Mostly we have grown. When we started the original structure, we had about 28 employees in The Genesis Group. Now, we are 41 strong and growing. So, as the architects say it- we needed to reprogram the building. We learned that we could bite the bullet and totally rethink the way the flow of everything worked.

Applying Lessons Learned- “Our architect has created a CHIFF, single story, really smart design for us”

 We ARE constructing a new single story, 17,000 sqft home for Genesis, our software company.

We are placing it to the West of where the original building was to be constructed. As much as possible, we are using as much of the work that we have already done.

We are stabilizing the ‘front’ of the property (East portion) where the original building was to be constructed so we can easily construct a building on the front of the property in the future (click to enlarge).

We have purchased an additional 6 acres to develop more of Corporate Green @ Eagles Nest.

That’s the summary of what is going on. We plan on beginning the necessary clearing of the property for the Phirst Building on November 28. We’ll also contour the land and build the pad for the structure. Simultaneously, we will we working on the remediation of the original site and doing a bit more work on the parking. Within about 30 days, we’ll get all of the concrete work moving for the parking, curbs, walkways and retaining walls. If all goes well, we hope to occupy the Phirst Building in October, 2012. Stay tuned!

More news will be coming soon…. here’s a sneak peek…

For what I’m about to write, you will want to read back over my 5/17/11 post called Progress…., specifically the Financing section.

♦As I’ve stated in the past, quit is not in my vocabulary, even though it has been tempting from time to time. This has been a difficult summer in many ways. From what I’ve read, it has been one of the hottest and driest in 117 years here in East Texas. We have had MANY wild fires. Unrelated, our business, while we’re in MUCH better condition and more blessed than many companies by a long shot, has not blown the top off of the spread sheets. We had the LOI (letter of intent) for the ‘big loan’  to do our project in our possession, but we were still needing a loan or partner for a $1.5mil gap during construction. We did get a bank to agree to loan us the gap funds, but at a monthly cost that was almost what the monthly payments of the ‘big loan’ would cost. This essentially would double our projected cash needs to do the project. Agreeing to all of the payments COULD work, but we would have lost our financial maneuvering room. If business required anything out of the norm… we would have a difficult time accommodating it.  That is not smart.  So, I went back to praying more and asking God ‘what now?’

My Boss- I still feel that my boss (God) gave the scope of this thing to me and said He would make it happen. I STILL feel from all factors that when I’ve prayed for Him to kill the project if it is supposed to die…. and it wouldn’t die… I feel that we are still on the right track. I do not feel that this has been a ‘big mistake’. Nope.  But I DO feel that for some reason out of my vision, that the timing is ‘off’ or that it has changed for this huge project. I’ve said to many people that God’s timing is perfect, but I rarely like it while in the middle of it! But I’ve seen this happen in my life enough, that I KNOW without a doubt that looking back on any situation, I clearly see how it all fit together for my good and His glory. I know that all sounds weird if you are not a person of faith. But think of it this way then…. if you had an adviser that you absolutely put your trust in, even when you felt he was wrong, and he proved he was right over 75% of the time, you’d listen to him, right? People kind of look at Warren Buffet like that! Well, my adviser is God.  Scoff if you like, but His proven accuracy track record with me has been well over 75% (duh…)!

So the project would never really go away. But I could see that there is no conceivable way to force this to work in it’s current design, current cost, and current economic environment. Even the banker that put together the gap loan (who is a Believer) said his deal was the best he could do and maybe he was actually helping me see God’s will, whatever that was. After 90 days of praying, watching our business patterns, watching the national economy problems finally hit Tyler,  looking at all of the numbers, I have made a very difficult decision.

The Decision- We are putting the Corporate Green ‘Green’ building on hold. Here are the facts… To do that much green, is costly. Very costly. At this time banks and thus appraisers do not recognize that much energy savings in a building for the asset that it is. Most  LEED Gold & Platinum buildings currently rolling out are government buildings.  The general economy right now does not favor this level of green in a private project.

This has been a gut wrenching decision because we have invested heavily in this vision. We have preached about being green. In a way this is also embarrassing. On the up side, we have borrowed no money to do the design, architectural or land improvement, and that is a blessing. So much of that will be a loss. I say a loss because WHEN we pick the project back up (notice we’re not quitting), technology will have progressed, and our building needs will have drastically changed.  It will require a redesign at some time in the future. I absolutely still believe in being green and being a good steward of the resources we have been given. The redesigned building WILL be green and I am positive that it will be LEED certified.  One of the ‘green lessons’ we have learned is that moving from LEED Certified, to LEED Silver then to LEED Gold has a HUGE price tag. Frankly, its not that difficult to simply be LEED Certified. If you are a conscious person that cares, it is almost natural to construct a building that is LEED Certified. But the movement from Certified to Silver… THAT is where your price starts a nonlinear cost rise. And that would be ok, IF…. IF you were able to get credit for all that ‘green’ in the appraisal and banking community. Maybe someday…..

What Now?- Good question.

• Business continues to be good and has every appearance of slowly & steadily getting better. We still need a home for our growing software business. Our current space is just not working for us.
• In my estimation (and other human advisers) the East Texas economy will not improve for about 18-24 months.  But I believe with all my heart that it will improve. Clearly, compared to other parts of the country, we are delayed in our ‘hit’, and we are not hit NEARLY as deep. We will also recover faster. It’s like we have economic shock absorbers in our area. Warren Buffet is a huge believer of investing in a down economy. I agree. But it can’t be at a level that chokes our business.
• We will continue to work on ways to progress toward the ultimate green building that I’ve envisioned for four years now.  For sure, we will stabilize the work on the site that has already been done. We WILL need it in the future.  We will watch the industry as new energy saving technologies continue to develop and continue to get cheaper.
• We do have more land in the Corporate Green At Eagle’s Nest development. We will likely build a ‘temporary’ home for our company while we work on the ‘big green’ building. That takes the pressure off of everything and allows us to maneuver. Right now, this feels like it is what God is wanting us to do.

Stay tuned.

The cistern that stores the 36,662 gallons of rainwater is made from a bunch of drain pipe! The company that makes the drain pipe realized that there is a market for creating cisterns and thus they have created fittings and joints to allow all of this to work together to store the water.

I love watching machinery work. Always have since I was a kid. I remember taking my son Josh when he was about three to watch the ‘diggers’ work! Here’s some shots of the work happening on assembling and installing the 36,662 gallon cistern…..

Today I actually have a sense of- WOW! Here’s why—

Today, May 19, 2011… ONE YEAR  from our final design drawings being delivered, we have poured the first concrete on our project!  Libby Fulgham,  the on site foreman for Garrett & Associates Construction (our contractor) managed this ‘one giant step’ piece. Libby also made a wise decision to put slightly larger rebar and use better level of concrete for the apron. This way we exceed the city minimums and get a much longer life. I might add that the concrete you see is our responsibility to install, but it really belongs to the city! Our property line starts where the concrete ends. Here is the way it will ultimately look:

Shaded area is where the apron that was poured.

So… proud day!

ALSO—-

We received more of the storm water / cistern parts.

Water Quality Unit

The picture to the right shows what is called a ‘water quality unit’. Here’s a link to read more about it:

http://www.ads-pipe.com/en/product.asp?productID=147 It will sit near the building and filter all of the rain runnoff that is captured, filter it, and send it on to the cisterns. Here’s how it works: http://www.ads-pipe.com/en/technical_static/pipeTruck.html. The entire system that grabs the rain water, filters it and stores it is really educational and fascinating and GREEN!

In the parking lot storm drains, there are two things-

FILTERS- http://inletfilters.com/

SNOUT- http://www.ads-pipe.com/pdf/en/NP151_0206_SnoutFlyer.pdf

All of these pieces combined work to filter the trash and any oil out of the rain water before it gets into the 36, 662 gallon cistern storage. Yes, we’ll need to clean them out every-so-often, but that is figured into the maintenance cost of the building. Upside- we will save THOUSANDS of gallons of water!

First a finance update- There is no update. We are so very close. The permanent and the major construction financing is in place but we are still short by about 12% to cover the construction phase.  We have been seeking mezzanine / bridge financing for a few months now. We’re not giving up by any means.

Site Progress…

We have signed a contract to get another chunk of work done. most of the remainder of the dirt work is being completed. We are also putting in the ‘city part’ of the grand entry. This is the concrete work that ties into the gutter and comes from the gutter to our property line. There will also be retaining walls installed, electrical main raceways from the power pole to the building, extending the main water and fire water lines to the building, and finally installing all of the storm drains, piping, and the huge cisterns!

These pictures help to give the perspective on the cisterns. The total storage will be 36,662 gallons of water.

This shows the concrete work on the apron entry to the site…

Laying the forms for the grand entry apron

QUIT is a four letter word. It’s one of those, while tempted from time to time, I’m not using.  Here’s some status points:

Financing– We have signed an LOI and made down payment with a lender in California. We are going through their process which involves getting the appraisal updated, getting additional paperwork to them, etc. The updated appraisal is in and it is in fact as good if not slightly better than one year ago.

While I cannot reveal the ‘California deal’, I’ll say that we are financially short for the construction phase with their deal. We made application to three Tyler banks to cover the FF&E (furniture fixtures & equipment) during construction and then do a bridge loan for the construction phase. One bank came back with an offer to fund the entire project (we would still be short, but MUCH less than the California deal), one had no response, and one approved a loan for the FF&E, but not for the bridge loan needed.

Needs- As I mentioned, our hope was on a local bank to do the bridge loan. Without divulging too much, I’ll say that once again it was head shaking time as to why it was not approved. The bridge (or mezzanine) loan is only needed during the construction phase (12-14 months) and it will be taken out by the permanent loan at occupancy. There is a construction bond in place to make sure the building is completed at, or near schedule. Bottom line- pretty low risk.

In general terms, I am looking for one of two things: (a) a private investor that will simply loan $1.5mil for 14 months at an agreeable interest and agreeable collateral, or (b) a private investor who might be interested in not just (a), but also continuing forward as an equity partner for the building and all of Corporate Green. I’m interested in someone in the Tyler area who shares my vision for a green office park that WILL attract tenants and grow Tyler.

Forms for the vaults are ready for concrete

Site Progress- We are continuing with work on the major utilities

Main Water Valves & Meters

and site work from cash. Most all of these items are whittling away at the total building cost and accomplishing needed progress. We are not pressing for these items to be done fast yet since we do have interim time here. In the coming weeks you will see significant site work happening. The dirt work will be done to shape the dirt pretty much the way it will be when complete. We will also be installing several retaining walls and some pavement around the entry area. The main purpose is because it will need to be done at some point, it will greatly curb runoff, and it will make for a great display that we are dead serious about this project.

Summary- We keep pressing forward. Quit is a 4 letter word and I’m not using it! I still have a strong faith and belief that this will happen. IF for some reason I cannot get a bridge loan, then at some point, due to our business, we will simply have the cash to do it. BUT… at our growth rate…. we’ll have 4-5 in each current office rather than our existing 2-3 in each! I don’t want to sound like a telethon, but please feel free to make a connection/intro if there is someone you know that might be interested in partnering with us. Thanks in advance…

I have explained in previous posts that the financial part of this has been (to say the least) long and drawn out. Almost having a deal two times and failing at the last signature kind of problems. I’m stopping short of saying we now have THE deal, but it appears that we are at >95%. It is divided into a few pieces during the construction phase, but I’m told that this is not unusual in the least.  I have signed an agreement of general terms and conditions and we are sending a good faith down payment tomorrow, after the weather clears a bit. We do have a deal also in the works with a local, friend of Genesis bank for a part of this as well. We’ll know by the end of the week if they are committed to helping make this happen.

I know that things will be getting very busy again within a few very short weeks. Stay tuned!