deepblog

Are economic trends and construction activity correlated?

We have discovered a direct correlation between economic trends and construction activity in the Dallas-Fort Worth MSA. The correlation between construction activity and economic trends makes sense. It makes sense because construction loans are required, and given the tight margins, interest rates can break the bottom line of a new...

Ownership and crime in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area.

What is the relationship between ownership and crime trend lines in small versus large cities? One of the most interesting correlations from our Deepblocks density index report was between ownership and crime. At least in the five sampled cities of Dallas-Fort Worth MSA, the correlation between crime and ownership had...

Density growth index applied to Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area.

How to leverage data to detect investment opportunities automatically? The first step is determining which city has the best metrics. We conducted a pilot study on five cities in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area. We compared Irving, Fort Worth, Dallas, Arlington, and Garland across population density, economic growth, construction density,...

How many Multifamily Development Opportunities in Downtown Dallas, Texas?

We found six prime properties out of 1,867 for multifamily development based on the following search criteria: Vacant Parcels allowing between 100-500 units: 190 sites and lot size larger than 9,600 SF: 6 sites 190 sites are vacant and allow between 100-500 units, and only six of those sites are...

How much development potential is in Dallas, Texas?

Dallas, Texas has 294,122 sites, and 12% are vacant. That’s 35,643 vacant sites. Moreover, 17% of the vacant sites allow for the construction of at least 100 units. That’s 6,299 vacant sites with massive multifamily development. I can see why Dallas has so much development interest and why many customers...

How many cities do we have live in the Dallas-Fort Worth MSA?

When we started digitizing zoning ordinances four years ago, the strategy was to start with the US's largest and most powerful metropolis. Our COO, Jeffrey Millett, created an algorithm to determine the top 100 cities with the most development capacity. Why is digitizing zoning ordinances so hard? We soon realized...

Are there multifamily opportunities in Lincoln Park, Chicago?

Lincoln Park, Chicago, has a higher density than Bridgeport, which we studied last week. Properties with the highest density yield between 40 and 50 units. In this study, we found six properties that allowed more than 40 units and currently have less than 5,000 SF. These properties have at least...

Are there assemblage opportunities in Bridgeport, Chicago?

Bridgeport is a low-density Chicago neighborhood, most sites yield between 5 and 15 units. We have to assemble adjacent parcels to develop a multifamily project of 30+ units. Assemblages are composed of properties that have good criteria for development. How to analyze properties for assemblages? Assemblages require adjacent sites with...

How many multifamily assemblage opportunities are in West Town, Chicago?

Assemblages are growing in popularity due to the lack of land for new development. The key is to find a set of adjacent properties that all have high development multiples. Then negotiate these properties with their respective owners. It is preferable to find assemblage opportunities with the same owner. Depending...

How many sites have development potential in Chicago?

Chicago has 604,319 properties under the Chicago Zoning Map. Today we looked into which ones have development potential using the development multiple calculations. For example, we’d like to filter sites where the total buildable area is ten times the existing building area. We narrowed it down to three sets. The...

What is a development multiple?

A development multiple tells us how much development potential there is on any given property. It is an abstraction of how much room is available for development. At scale, development multiples tell us how much a city region can grow. We divide the total buildable area by the existing building...

Can the Inland Empire be the foundation for a circular city?

Shorter delivery times are a general demand. If products need to be closer to the people, one option is to bring the warehouses into the city, which I explored in last week’s post. A second option would be to build cities over warehouse districts. Think multilayered Chicago, in which elevated...