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July 23, 2004
What makes a cool pharmacy?
Yep, cool neon sign, great customer service, familiar faces and local charm. But what about low prices? Don't the national chains, RiteAid/CVS/Walgreens have a lock on this? Kennedy Smith, former long-time executive director of and current consultant to the National Main Street Center, demystifies the myth:
"RiteAid/CVS/Walgreens are a different story. Independent pharmacies can actually operate more efficiently than these guys - their national association has a buying service that, by pooling their buying power, supplies them with prescription meds at lower prices than the big guys can get (the association has 5000+ members - many more outlets than any of the national chains). Many state surveys of pharmaceutical prices in the past several years has concluded that the national chains sell the 25 most commonly prescribed meds at the highest prices and the independents sell them at the lowest prices (Wal-Mart is in the middle, with a 20% price range - low prices in communities where it still has a competitor, high prices in communities where it doesn't). The number of independent pharmacies is slowing beginning to grow again."
Kennedy is also a CoolTown Studios associate partner.
Posted by Neil | Link to Article
July 22, 2004
Beautiful apartments? Look overseas
This is at least true if you google 'beautiful apartments' - four of the top five results at the time of this publishing are in other countries, namely Europe.
Now, since the point made yesterday is that the most effective way to provide affordable housing is via multi-family, it would seem rather inspiring to find the most beautiful multi-family housing in the world.
What makes them beautiful? It's important to understand this from the tenant's point of view - and that's a great view, whether it's the ocean, an active square or a vibrant street. It's not all about an ocean view either - at Mizner Park in Florida, the apartments facing the square filled up before the ones facing the ocean.
Interestingly, because the buildings fronting these active squares are so prominent, great care is taken in making them more beautiful to look at.
Posted by Neil | Link to Article
July 21, 2004
Affordable housing - really
First of all, there are people with low incomes, and people with decent incomes who can't afford homes. The former deals with government policy/subsidy, the
latter deals with what the private sector produces.
The reality: If you want to live in a great neighborhood, but can't afford a 1500 sf home, what to do? Move somewhere else. That's the smallest home you're going to find in places like Silicon Valley. If not, move into an ugly garden apartment.
The near future: If you want to live in a great neighborhood, but can't afford a 1500 s.f. home, what to do? Move into a 900 s.f. home, or even a 400 s.f. studio. The neighborhood adds more to your quality of life than the size of the residential unit. There are some sacrifices, but hey, we don't all make $100K/year either, and a backyard is a privilege, not a right. Besides, many don't even want the maintenance headaches of a larger home and yard. As Sarah Susanka says in her wildly popular Not So Big House book, a well-designed (and well-located) house half the size can be twice as livable (and twice as profitable). That's the approach I took, and my home's value more than tripled since 1999.
The problem is city officials (and vocal residents) still mistrust the word density. That'll change over time. I've got a running blog series on the 'new affordability' here - nothing to do with government subsidies.
Posted by Neil | Link to Article
July 20, 2004
Seeding a beta community
Last night at a presentation by renowned town planner Andres Duany for a new urban neighborhood in Rockville MD, a creative class group of visionary, future home buyers took it upon themselves to independently form a beta community.
Perhaps this community is the first of its kind, especially since it will take two years before they could move into the proposed project, if it is even approved by the city council. Brandon, Jenny, Hyojung, Kart, Stu, Kamile, Charles, Brian, Hilary, Manny & Andy and Laura were there, met each other as potential new neighbors, and are the founders of the beta community. They even mutually agreed with the development's project manager, also a beta resident, that they don't want any 'Ruby Tuesdays'.
At times, you could already feel the sense of community.
Posted by Neil | Link to Article
July 19, 2004
The beta community
We are evolving into a customer-driven economy, where customers are so well-informed that they're actually often the best suited to design and develop their own products and services.
Linux, the computer operating system that has all but ended Microsoft's dominance in the server market, when founder Linus Torvalds sought an alternative to closed, proprietary operating systems and began writing a new one for free, inspiring others to join him via collective volunteering, or crowdsourcing, thus forming a beta community. By the time the product became marketable, they had created what became a community of thousands of die-hard supporters... many of them now well off because of it.
The most innovative new neighborhoods, buildings, and venues will be designed and built the same way. Why? Because just as something as complex and innovative as Linux couldn't be written by one person, nor can one place be designed and built by one person - which is unfortunately standard practice in real estate development (one decision-maker) and why most places look that way.
How can we accelerate this in the real estate industry? Mass customization. With the help of technology and some community building, we'll be able to aggregate the many values, preference and needs of the market into a collective vision coupled with like-minded implementors and investors... and... the best part is that those same people get first crack at moving into the built community they helped design. Expect no less in your future neighborhood. Establish a beta community. Here's how.
Read more about beta communities here.
Posted by Neil | Link to Article | Comments (0) | TrackBack
