We are basically talking about a ground lease here- a mechanism that is very popular for commercial real estate (ground lease for 99 years) and is used in other projects in certain cities and settings (i.e. reserves, or cities like Baltimore.). Banks should technically be familiar with these and be able to work with things, but things gets very difficult and murky if/when the property is sold… Moreover, ground leases have been frowned upon in certain context as the tenancy/ownership down the line has gotten very convoluted and potentially untraceable, this is the case in Baltimore now…
Bref, my inquiries on the matter have pointed to the fact that it very much depends on the practices and politics of place- unfortunately, there are no precedents in DC that could facilitate the path here.
Back to Makara, unless they are imposing some pretty strict rules/contracts with the home owners- i.e. not allow them to sale in x time, or take a percentage of the home sale, or something of the sort, which does not seem too popular or practical, I am not sure how they are going about things dealing with a potential sale of the land.
From what I gathered in Makara’s website, they are paying the property owner for a pilot program- to build on the land to display their model and market it for x amount of time. I am not sure they are renting the model…
Adriana NAVARRO-SERTICH
. urban . Social . Economic . Environmental . Development .
[Enacting positive change through architecture, urban design, planning + development]