For discussion: I have land on a state highway on the edge of a small town near Austin. At one point a few years ago the town decided to annex the corridor extending about 450’ and 5 miles out along the route. There was a group of owners that rejected it so that section is now developed but not much else. My property is close to town and has 370 ‘ of frontage. It is a deep tract so I have 4.4 acres in the city but another 13 in the county and the ETJ. Obviously the hurdles to development are much different between the two. It’s all R-1 at the moment but they view it as potential commercial. I have applied to rezone the front to C-3. The county part has no zoning restrictions. I was advised by a developer that I should try to be dis annexed from the ETJ in case the city ever decides to start enforcing restrictions. On the city portion: when I pressed the city about sewer and water they said they were unable to extend it to there due to the railroad between us. Others have confirmed that the railroad here is powerful and hard to deal with. I have a well and septic and it is probably less costly and faster to enhance that than tie in anyway. My research shows that I have grounds for dis annexation and I think it will save me a lot of time and money if I can get it done. I found an attorney that does it. Any thoughts or comments. Sorry this so long winded but wanted to present the whole scenario. I’m sure someone here has dealt with this before.

You've been asking for it, so here it is. The last Monday of every month we're setting aside an hour just to connect, no presentation, no slides, just networking. You'll be placed in breakout rooms of 3-4 people, and we'll rotate rooms every 15 minutes so you get real conversations with a handful of different members throughout the hour. One ask: if you're joining, commit to the full hour. Rooms only work if everyone sticks around, jumping in and out mid-rotation leaves people short a conversation partner. First one is August 31st. Come ready to talk shop, trade war stories, and actually meet the people you've been seeing in the chat every week. If you are going to Flex Connect next month, it would be great to join the first call to meet some of the people also going to the conference. I look forward to seeing everyone there. wS

I will be attending the Flex Connect Conference in Houston next month. We are planning a networking event the night before and need to get a headcount. Let me know if you are headed to Flex Connect and whether you plan to attend the Basecamp networking event. If you haven't bought your tickets yet, here is the link -> Flex Connect. It will be a great event. I look forward to seeing everyone there. wS

For ground up new construction, interested in hearing what everyone is doing from a power perspective? We have used both single and 3 phase, typically with 200 amp service. It does add cost to bring in 3 phase and I am not sure the juice is worth the squeeze (pun intended). Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Has anyone had any experience with bank lending requirements wanting to see a certain percentage preleased prior to closing on the construction loan? And as an expansion to that - can people share their preleasing experience with Small Bay? Is that feasible, or is this asset class a "build it first then lease" type of asset? And if so - how do you reconcile banks wanting to see preleases?