The CEO Game

Whether you have been to Los-Angeles or not, you are surely familiar with the city of angels’ famous landmark- the Hollywood sign. The sign has been standing for over 87 years since its debut as an advertisement in 1923. Unfortunately, the future of the sign, is not so clear and now the Hollywood sign is in danger. All the surrounding lands are up for grabs and luxurious houses may take the Hollywood hills over soon. The Hollywood Sign Trust, a non-profit organization is putting in effort to try and stop this but some other entrepreneurs have a different idea in mind: turn the sign into a hotel.

The Hollywood Sign is located in the Hollywood Hills are of Mount Lee in L.A, California. The sign spells out the name of the area in 50 feet tall white letters stretching over 200 feet across. Although the sign is well known and recognized all over the world and has attracted its share of tourists over the years, some claim that the sign is not- “all that” and it is just plain painted plywood that looks huge and majestic on the silver screen, but in reality is quite small and miserable according to them. That is the reason why the Danish architect Christian Bay-Jorgensen, wants to turn this sign into what he thinks that everyone really wants- an hotel.

Moreover, Bay-Jorgensen wants to transform the sign to a boutique hotel that will have the same shape. But he won’t stop there, his vision includes wrecking the entire sign and the surrounding area and building it from scratch only this time, double the size. He believes by doing this he will create a sizzling hot location which will bring in rich tourists and Hollywood celebs, located right at the heart of Tinsel town. Finally he thinks that his idea would make the sign better for everyone, since it will bring in more cash, create more workplaces, create the next best thing for L.A’s night scene, all while everyone else would be able to see it from a greater distance.

However, it seems many people are not in favor of the new idea. They claim that making the landmark bigger, will ruin the view for everyone: it will block the sight from on top of the hills as well as create an ugly real estate monster, disproportional to its surroundings. Another group of people, object the creation of an hotel because in their minds, creating an hotel over the ruins of the sign, is another sign for the city’s gloominess and carelessness- turning everything into a matter of cash. In addition, environmental issues are also taken into consideration since creating such an ambitious project requires infrastructures (and a whole lot of them) which will destroy the surroundings and natural habitats of wild animals.

Omer Shachnai

The CEO Game.

An example of how can man harness his environment for a better future

Who would have thought that a 2.5£ million penthouse will be offered to take in Elephant and Castle? One of London’s more controversial districts, that many believe is a disaster sprung from plans that went wrong way back in the 60’s. The southern district which is less than 3.2 kilometer far from Westminster, was always described as simple, grayish and ordinary. On the contrary, the new emerging tower in the heart of it, the “Strata SE1″ residential block is anything but ordinary. The 43 floor tall building will be the highest residential tower in London according to the “Financial Times”.

London's New Hope?

The skyscraper’s height is “174.9 meter”, said Karl Debenfort from Chestreton Homberts real estate agency, “but he looks almost twice as tall, you can see it from any street corner in London. It is a symbol for a better future throughout the area”. The tower is the most protruded project out of many regeneration projects, which are the goals of an ambitious plan to change the area. The Strata, which is expected to be open in April, contains 408 apartments, amongst them you can find: studio apartments for 285£ thousand, one bedroom apartments for 369£ thousand, two bedroom apartments for 495£ thousand and penthouses for 2.5£ million.

The first ten floors are given over to affordable housing and the top eight boast penthouses with views across London. The tower which is already nicknamed by the locals as the “Razor” because of its similarity to an electric shaver, was designed by the architecture firm Hamiltons and is both revolutionary and functional- the building’s rooftop will include three wind turbines which will provide the electricity need for the entire building (it will still be connected to the city’s power lines, just in case). When the blades, nine meters across, are lifted into place later this month they will help create the first “wind farm” of its kind to be integrated into a building.

Nick Stanton, leader of Southwark council, which is the driving force behind the regeneration of Elephant and Castle, says: “We want to give people space and smaller buildings on smaller developments that are green and safe, with better homes, shops, community facilities and a new park.” In conclusion, the Strata is a bright positive change set in the heart of an urban catastrophe which is now undergoing a green make over and is hoping to wind up just like Pittsburgh did a few years ago.

Want to learn more? Try the Elephant and Castle Regeneration Project on Wikipedia.

Omer Shachnai

The CEO Game.

It’s a three ring circus in Dubai, the debts are stacking up and causing Dubai to sell all kinds of properties all over the world. According to the Londonian newspaper  Times, Dubai’s Royal Investment Capital has set to sale a long line of properties which can stretch around the block (any block you pick in case you have wondered): Cirque du Soleil, prime commercial real estate in the heart of London, shares in the Standard Chartered Bank and even the luxury boat “Queen Elizabeth the Second” (QE2).

Times also reports the sell is intended to raise money which will help deal with the massive debts that “DubaiWorld”, the investment capital of the Persian Gulf residing emirate, has accumulated. The debts sum up to 22$ billion, and experts predict that the DubaiWorld’s financial advisors will try and sell each property seperately instead of trying to locate a single purchaser for the entire portfolio. “Istithmar World” which is a private investment arm of DubaiWorld holds most of the properties which will be put up for grab.

Just like DubaiWorld, Istithmar World was founded in order to make hefty profits in a time of prosperity in the world’s capital markets, which ended with the beginning of the sub-prime crisis and the credit absence which followed. Amongst the rest Istithmar purchased Barney’s, New York’s W and Oriental Mandarin Hotels (which was sold 283$ million short lately) and as aforementioned prime real estate in the heart of London. By the way, 2.2% ownership of the Standard Chartered Bank is worth a nice round billion dollar.

Istithmar funded all these by investing some 18$ billion between 2003 and 2007. “Only” 3.8$ of this sum was funded by Istithmar own money, as for the rest of it- loans did the trick. In that shopping spree, Istithmar acquired its crown jewel the QE2 luxury boat- which is one of the biggest of its kind. The boat was bought by the foundation in June 2007 for 100$ million, in order to make it a floating luxury hotel near the coast of Dubai.

The plan never succeeded and now the boat itself is offered for purchase. All the sales will be conducted by the major accounting firm Deloitte and Touche, which is in charge of DubaiWorld’s entire debt “rendition” operation. One last thing, in case you do decide to buy the circus or the boat if you wish, you must get a permission first for DubaiWorld’s biggest creditors: HSBC, Lloyds and the Royal Bank of Scotland. “Bona fortuna” and enjoy your shopping.

Omer Shachnai

The CEO Game.

Real Estate Is a Serious Business

In this article well discuss real estate investments and how it can provide you an easy and relatively safe channel for investing money and gaining a small cash flow with a chance of gaining capital profit along the way

The price of real estate (for residence) is determent by many factors such as:

Starting Your Way In Real Estate

The land\size price are the most important part of the land price is set by the demand and Supply (D&S) to the specific area of the land, how much you can build on this land by low and for what purpose (commercial, industry, residence) this factors depend on city planning and the demand for this given location .

The other factor that has a great influence over the price of real estate is the building costs. This part can be varying from very cheap costs to very expensive ones.  You can build your compound or house from wood, buy a preliminary house or build it from concrete and blocks all of those have different prices and each has its own advantages and disadvantages. Take in mind that in some places you can’t build in one or more of those row materials due to low safety issues

The problem with the variance of building costs is even more fluctuating when you furnish the house for example high quality flooring (marvel) will cost much more than porcelain or carpet and wood.

Now after we know what influence the price of real estate we can start thinking about real estate as an investment tool. If we don’t have the full amount necessary to buy the propriety you should consider taking a mortgage or finding partners for the investment.

Mortgage is a great tool for financing the full amount of the real estate price without taking a serious personal risk. Mortgage helps you to bridge the gap between the amount you have and the cost of the real estate by using a loan from the bank. In case you can’t pay the bank will take the asset as collateral. In most cases you will pay in time and in the end of the period you will have the house which will allow you keep receiving a stable cash flow from rent. A great example for the potential of earning money through investing in real estate can be found in the book “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” by Robert Kiyosaki. In “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” Robert Kiyosaki describes his life learned lessons on how he got rich through investments in real estate and his “Let The Money Work For You” philosophy. Another recommended book is “Mortgage Loan Modification Book” which describes useful tips and tricks about way to lower your Mortgage payments.

Omri.

The CEO Game.