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Ugh.

Continuing my tradition of negative comments on MNSpeak, I can personally attest to this guy being a slumlord.

I rented from him for one year at 31st and Fremont -- he waited DAYS to fix the heat when the boiler went out in January, and then when the pipes burst because of that, it took almost a week to get that cleared out -- like Bush with New Orleans, the basement was filling with water, and he stood by doing nothing for almost a week.. I ended up as the one who actually cleared out the layer of dried-up basement funk that settled on the floor. THEN he shorted me on my CRP. When we finally left, after the lease was up, he promised to improve the kitchen for new tenants, but reneged.

That doesn't even include the electrical problems... half of our floor was on a single 10 amp circuit -- oh, and so was half of the other apartment downstairs. Xcel came in, declared the wiring "commingled" and said we couldn't take responsibility for the electric bill by law. Gassen didn't fix the wiring, he never followed through on a meeting to establish an electricity fee, so he tried holding that back from us when it came time to give back our deposits.

Every word of this is true. I wouldn't trust Gassen to watch my drink at a bar, much less shape the future of Uptown.

I happen to live in one of Clark's/Financial Freedom's conversions in Kenwood, and while the price of my condo was a steal for that neighborhood, the hassles we've had to go through with Clark and FFR have been many and are still going on 2 years later. Our association is currently involved in a law suit with FFR right now that will probably be drawn out for years, and will be expensive for us. I also had the unfortunate experience of running into Clark at a bar once. He bragged about how rich he was, and about how he had treated his ex-girlfriend like shit (I found out later that he was in fact stalking her for awhile). Then he proceeded to ask me out, and got mad when I said no. What a charmer!

On a more positive note, there are a handful of elderly people who have lived in my building for 15+ years, and they have been allowed to stay and to continue paying rent to Financial Freedom. They were never forced to buy their apartment sor to move out.

I'd like Mpls. to stay itself personally.

Have you ever seen this guy out at the bar. He is a big asshole who flaunts his money. Talk about wanting to be a target!

I hate unused surface parking lots. I also don't like rich assholes ruining my neighborhood.

Take, for instance, the Edgewater. It's huge! And yet, it has fewer units than the building it replaced. That's not urbanification, it's plain old gentrification.

I'd like to see minumum and maximum heights in Minneapolis, especially along Lake Street, which is a suburbanized wasteland of strip malls for too much of its length.

what are you talking about? i mentioned the suburbs.

also "I'd like Mpls. to stay itself personally" <-- the minneapolis of 2005? 1996? 1982? 1960? 1920? 1612?

since when is the last three years of where you live the ideal city? did minneapolis spend the last 150 growing, just to reach a zenith in 2006? yeah its' a utopia now. great job minneapolis. you're finished.

exactly. it was the city 50 years ago that tore down most of downtown however (and gave the land to developers) and now the developers waiting on it until there's a point that they can build something at a profit. i personally like to see some action being taken.

after all, it's not like the buildings on lake and 13th were built in 1880 with the intention that an immigrant will come in in the late 1990s and start a realty business. it was probably built for a rich scandinavian male. a building has to exist before a city's culture can use it.

My neighbor, a delivery truck driver, watched his life partner die because she had no insurance and couldn't afford a doctor. He might not be able to afford day care now, but he can't afford to quit his job. The neighbors are pitching in to help.

We live in the suburbs. Our block is populated with good, hard-working liberals, government and human services workers and people of all races and first languages.

You seem to bash the suburbs and everyone in them for aesthetic and cultural reasons. God forbid you'd have my life, right.

jeez mr sensitive here.

i'm just bashing the suburbs for the urban planning. i'm not bashing the people. some of my best friends etc. what i'm saying is that people should move there if that's the style of urban planning they like (yards, driveways, parking lots, strip malls etc).

lol @ peebles

I'll say this: there's too much knee-jerk reaction from both sides when it comes to development. I know too many people who instantly hear there's a new condo going up and think it's bad news. And I hear other people who immediately assume any development is good for a neighborhood.

There's good development and there's bad development. Doy.

That said, I happen to think we mostly do the good stuff around here. (Sure, I want Let It Be back too. But sometimes change is change.) For instance, I have a hard time understanding why one could be against the Sears development. Whether they made it into low-scale rentals or 5000-sq-foot condos, it just seems so much better than what was there.

Wow, the daggers came out for Gassen quickly.

Just to echo Rex here - in the case of the Sears building, and many other adaptive re-use conversions, the end product is cheaper, and often less disruptive and a better fit for the area than tearing down and building anew.

They also fill a void in the marketplace - Many of these conversions are keeping people in the city that might join me in the dreaded suburbs, and keep in mind that even at $300.00 per square foot, this is still half of what we see on the coasts and even Chicago, and a relative bargain.

Seriously - we've got a million more people coming to Minneapolis in the next decade or three. We can expand ever outward, infill where we can, or some of both, but prices will continue to rise either way. Such is life in an aspiring metropolis.

Being involved at the edges of this industry, I've heard from several subcontractors who've worked on Financial Freedom / Clark Gassen projects that they're instructed to do the work just so it lasts to the 2 year warranty or whatever it is in a particular building, and absolutely nothing beyond that. I would never buy one of his dumps!

I'm buying a place with a $150 association fee (not from FF, though I have noticed their increasing presence lately). I thought it was outrageous, until I saw what some other places charge. Makes me think twice about wanting to eventually buy one of those fancy new condos. Do tenants have an ability to see an itemized list of what association fees are spent on so we can at least have some accountability?

You can look at that two ways. 1) It's good evidence that a real estate bust is on the horizon. 2) It's good evidence for diversifying classes within a single property.

30-60% investor concentration is on the high side, at least in our market.

Most quality associations will limit investor concentration to less than 50%, with no single investor allowed to own more than 10% of the units. Any higher than that and new/future buyers will have trouble getting financing (thus limiting the future marketability/appreciation of the project as a whole) - those percentages are based on Fannie Mae/Freddie mac underwriting guidelines, which govern 90-95% of all mortgages.

In my experience, I've seen only a handful of projects even approach 30% investor concentration, but it is a must ask question when considering a purchase.

Look, folks, if you buy near our cities' 'amenities', and the population growth projections keep tracking, you CAN NOT lose.

Just be sure you can handle the payments.

The miracle of appreciation will do the rest!

Not to mention it's patently ridiculous.

I know for a fact that Gassen backed out on the kitchen improvements he promised because "that property's never made me any money".

Take my word for it, Gassen isn't a urban development maverick, he's just a new spin on the 1980s corporate raider. Maximize profit, then dump.

Hey Bud, you wanna buy some Amazon.com stock? I'll even give you some nicely appreciated 2001 prices!

Kevin, in answer to your question about how the association fees are spent: all homeowners recieve copies of the proposed budget each year, very specifically itemized. If you're on the board (which I am, because I'm a nerd) you get these itemized statements monthly. Even if you weren't on the board, you could request this information at any time from your management company. I think having a strong management company is really important, because they will be in charge of tying up any loose ends after the developer moves on.

All slander aside, I'm very happy with my condo and since I bought it for such a low price, I will hopefully make a decent profit when I sell in the next couple of years. Prob'ly to one of you suckas =) ha.

Just speaking from experience,yo.

You don't want to be skimping on association fees.

It just means that you'll be hit with a huge assessment five years down the road when the boiler craps out, the roof starts leaking, and raccoons take up residence under the porch. And they will. Especially on a cheaply done conversion of a marginal rental property.

Much better to have the money set aside in advance.

There are 2 type of people in the world, risk takers and people who stand on the side lines and watch. I love that Gassen took a risk and followed his dreams. People who step outside the box in the business world are bound to upset a few people on their way, so everyone who is complaining need to relax and get realistic. Minneapolis is a great city and I love that people are investing in it & making it a better place.

I have heard great things about FFR and they offer unique & amazing projects. To bad negativity spreads faster and further than positive remarks. Good work and keep it up!!

I am Clark Gassen's Mother and I think that he had tons of guts at age 28 to try and make a place he loves more accessable to more homeowners. His family, brother and sisters and parents are very proud of him. It's hard to please everyone all the time but Clark you deserve a lot of credit for your insight.
I love to. MOM

CG... thanks for making my dream of seven figure home ownership your passion!

i cant get on mns

Jesus, I'm in PR and even I'm getting sick of hearing the party line here. Give it a rest -- this thread is old and dead.

I met clark this week. one comment. don't hate the player, hate the game. clark is doing you a favor by up grading the uptown area. the mozaic will be a nice addition to the area.

I have also known Clark since high school and he has never done anything that was not to his benefit. He was the guy to make fun of the handicap students to get a laugh. He is an, arrogant, cruel, soulless individual. I have to say that I am not sorry to see his demise. Karma at it's best!