Last month, the City of Palmdale unveiled plans to develop a state-of-the-art veteran’s preferred housing community. 

The $42 million project, the “Courson Arts Colony”, will include 182 units with a unit mix consisting of studios, 1 bedrooms, 2 bedrooms, and 3 bedroom units.  There will be several art-themed amenities including “an art gallery, art walk, outdoor amphitheater, performing arts studio, art lab, and a pool,” revealed Palmdale Mayor Jim Ledford at the 2014 Palmdale State of the City Address.

Construction is proposed to begin in late 2015 with completion scheduled for late 2017 on the six acre project located on the corner of 10th Street East and Avenue Q-11.  The project will be funded by earmarked housing funds and tax credits.

The Courson Arts Colony project is consistent with the city’s vision of creating sustainability.  This community will attract people young and old and provide an area where people can live, work, and play without needing a car.  For those of you invested in the Palmdale area near the proposed stop of the California High Speed Rail (CA HSR), you would be interested to know that this new community will be less than a mile South-East of the proposed CA HSR stop.

Developed Real Estate is to buy a house, condo, apartment building, hotel, etc.  Nearly everyone that invests in real estate ONLY invests in developed real estate, that is why the profit margins are so small and the risk is so high (to learn more about why developed real estate is not the best way to invest click here).  On the other hand, undeveloped real estate is to buy land in the middle of nowhere; don't do it...I wouldn't.  What most people don't realize exists is a brief moment in time right before land becomes developed called: PRE-Developed Real Estate; land with infrastructure in the direct path of development.  My experiences from rehabbing and "flipping" homes to owning rental income properties has led me to know that there is no surer or safer way to secure your financial future than to invest in pre-developed real estate.

CoAuthor: David Price, RTA Land Banker

Some people these days looking to own land, in the predictable path of growth and development, may be thinking that WATER might be an issue in the state of California since:

a) California is currently in a drought and some so-called experts are saying we may be in this drought for 10, 20, even 30 years, and

b) Water is one of the main MUST HAVEs when investing in land in high growth areas (see the third key growth indicator here).

I've been saying for some time now, we have lots of water; it’s in the Pacific Ocean and simply needs to be engineered and processed, a process called "desalination".

This is nothing new to America especially the Navy.  Remember, very large naval ships (including Aircraft Carriers) are out at sea for very long periods of time (6-months, 1-year, etc.). These ships have desalination mini-plants on-board the ship.  That's how the crew and sailors drink water, take baths, cook, etc.

Unfortunately, not many people are aware, especially politicians and news reporters, that California is currently building some of the nation's largest DESALINATION PLANTS and some of the largest in the Western Hemisphere.  For example in Carlsbad, California construction is over 25 percent complete on a $1 billion project that will provide 50 million gallons of freshwater per day from the Pacific Ocean, a system that serves 3.1 million people.

California IS NOT going to stand-by and let the lack of water effect its growth…California never has.   Especially, the $40B agriculture industry in the central valley; California is the largest food producer in America and has been for more than 50 years.  Desalination requires a lot of energy and therefore has been cost prohibitive for large scale use, however with recent technological advances in membrane materials and energy recovery systems the energy cost have been reduced nearly in half.  Now desalination is not only necessary, it's practical.

“I think it will turn out that it [building desalination plants] is very affordable compared to not having the water here in Southern California, particularly with the drought that we are facing…” -Randy Truby, Comptroller of the International Desalination Association and Director Emeritus of the American Membrane Technology Association (AMTA)

So, in conclusion, a savvy land owner isn’t worried about drought issues here in California.  California is leading the nation and the western hemisphere in the building of Mega-Million & Multi-Billion dollar desalination plants.  Consider the positive affects on land values as billions of dollars in development of desalination plants continue to pour in.

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