Yesterday morning, we did a day trip to Monaco. The main thing I wanted to see was Le Renzo (which is a project I have written about before). Designed by Renzo Piano Building Workshop, it is among the most expensive residential buildings in the world. Condominiums have reportedly sold for as high as €120,000 per square meter (or about €11,148 per square foot).
Before the trip, I emailed the district's PR contact to see if we could get a tour inside. Unfortunately, it's August in Europe, and they told me that nobody from the development team would be around to take us through. So we ended up just walking the perimeter. Here is a photo of the project's north elevation, facing inland.
Yesterday morning, we did a day trip to Monaco. The main thing I wanted to see was Le Renzo (which is a project I have written about before). Designed by Renzo Piano Building Workshop, it is among the most expensive residential buildings in the world. Condominiums have reportedly sold for as high as €120,000 per square meter (or about €11,148 per square foot).
Before the trip, I emailed the district's PR contact to see if we could get a tour inside. Unfortunately, it's August in Europe, and they told me that nobody from the development team would be around to take us through. So we ended up just walking the perimeter. Here is a photo of the project's north elevation, facing inland.
Here's the south side facing the sea:
And here's a photo of its western edge, including the building's outdoor pool amenity:
The -1 level is boat slips and retail, some of which are still in the process of opening. The fact that they placed the retail where they did stood out to me, because it feels akin to second-floor retail — meaning, it only works in certain places and under certain conditions. Maybe this is one of them.
The ground plane — or at least the level that connects inland — is visually open on all sides, except for the elevator cores and exit stairs coming down from the buildings. This gives you a clear view of the Mediterranean as you approach the district and makes the entire area feel publicly accessible. It's also meant to evoke the image of ships sitting in a dry dock.
We didn't stay in Monaco very long, but this project was the highlight for me. I would have really loved the opportunity to tour inside and get closer to its details.
Leaving Monaco requires some maneuvering if you didn't drive or take the train (which we didn't). Uber is banned within the principality. You can get dropped off in an Uber, but you can't request a car once you're there. This is what you'll see if you open up the app and try:
We were also told that they're very strict about this. If, for example, you get dropped off in an Uber and then try to go off-app for your return, the Uber driver runs the risk of a heavy fine and having their car confiscated for a week. So many drivers don't want to do this unless you're willing to compensate them for the risk.
What you instead need to do is walk to the Monaco-France border, which usually isn't far given the country has a total land area of around 2 square kilometers. As soon as the GPS on your phone signals that you're in France rather than Monaco, cars reappear in the app. And from my experience, the geofencing is accurate within a few meters. It was pretty neat.
In the future, I think a better option might be to road bike over. I saw a number of people doing that yesterday and, boy, it looked like fun.
Traveling is one of my favorite things in life. But sometimes the process of getting to where you want to go can be suboptimal. Thursday was one of those days. Bianca and I were flying Air France to Paris and then had a connection to the south. But about 5 hours into our flight, they shut off all the TVs and informed us that, due to a technical issue with the plane, we'd be making an emergency landing in either Dublin or Brest (in northwest France). The technical issue was an unidentified burning smell.
We ended up at Brest Bretagne Airport and got the opportunity to explore this small and almost food-less airport for about 10 hours. For some reason, they had to split our flight into two planes. So what Air France did was fly a special plane to Brest to pick up and fly group number one to Paris, fly it back to Brest to pick up group number two, and then return to Paris. We were in group number two. By the time we arrived in Paris it was close to midnight local time and we had, naturally, missed our connection a long time ago.
Pacaso, which is a relatively new (2020) co-ownership vacation home company, has been making the rounds online lately. That’s because the founders are accomplished, they’ve reserved their Nasdaq ticker, and they’re raising money from retail investors through their website.
Fractional ownership is a topic we’ve discussed a number of times on the blog. And as I’ve said before, I think it’s an answer to this real estate problem: “I have a desire to own a home, or multiple homes, around the world. However, I don’t know how often I’d actually use it/them, and this desire is both expensive and a pain in the ass.”
So it’s not surprising that the market invented timeshares, membership clubs, and fractional ownership models. Timeshares, however, have a bad rap and generally don’t involve the direct ownership of real estate. Instead, what you’re buying is the right to use a property during a certain period of time.
Fractional ownership, on the other hand, typically does involve direct ownership of the asset. In the case of Pacaso, my understanding is that each property is acquired through a single-purpose entity (usually a US LLC). Buyers then acquire a membership interest in that SPE.
This is obviously better. It’s how most real estate projects are structured legally. But there remain a number of important questions about this model: Are fractional shares in a vacation home liquid? How big is the market? And should owners expect appreciation over time?
I haven’t seen great data on this ownership model. There are lots of fractional opportunities and, in theory, a 100% sale of the home could always be offered — which should appreciate like any other property in the market. But selling fractional shares is always going to be less liquid and more challenging.
Maybe that’s okay. Maybe it’s best to think of it more like a consumer good than a real estate investment. But then, why not just spend your money on hotels when you vacation?
This could be my developer GP bias at work — where I’d rather not own an asset with a bunch of strangers and have no control — but I have a hard time getting my head around the fractional ownership model. I think it serves a very clear desire in the market. But is it a good business, and is it the optimal way to buy a vacation home?
Note: None of this is financial advice.
Here's the south side facing the sea:
And here's a photo of its western edge, including the building's outdoor pool amenity:
The -1 level is boat slips and retail, some of which are still in the process of opening. The fact that they placed the retail where they did stood out to me, because it feels akin to second-floor retail — meaning, it only works in certain places and under certain conditions. Maybe this is one of them.
The ground plane — or at least the level that connects inland — is visually open on all sides, except for the elevator cores and exit stairs coming down from the buildings. This gives you a clear view of the Mediterranean as you approach the district and makes the entire area feel publicly accessible. It's also meant to evoke the image of ships sitting in a dry dock.
We didn't stay in Monaco very long, but this project was the highlight for me. I would have really loved the opportunity to tour inside and get closer to its details.
Leaving Monaco requires some maneuvering if you didn't drive or take the train (which we didn't). Uber is banned within the principality. You can get dropped off in an Uber, but you can't request a car once you're there. This is what you'll see if you open up the app and try:
We were also told that they're very strict about this. If, for example, you get dropped off in an Uber and then try to go off-app for your return, the Uber driver runs the risk of a heavy fine and having their car confiscated for a week. So many drivers don't want to do this unless you're willing to compensate them for the risk.
What you instead need to do is walk to the Monaco-France border, which usually isn't far given the country has a total land area of around 2 square kilometers. As soon as the GPS on your phone signals that you're in France rather than Monaco, cars reappear in the app. And from my experience, the geofencing is accurate within a few meters. It was pretty neat.
In the future, I think a better option might be to road bike over. I saw a number of people doing that yesterday and, boy, it looked like fun.
Traveling is one of my favorite things in life. But sometimes the process of getting to where you want to go can be suboptimal. Thursday was one of those days. Bianca and I were flying Air France to Paris and then had a connection to the south. But about 5 hours into our flight, they shut off all the TVs and informed us that, due to a technical issue with the plane, we'd be making an emergency landing in either Dublin or Brest (in northwest France). The technical issue was an unidentified burning smell.
We ended up at Brest Bretagne Airport and got the opportunity to explore this small and almost food-less airport for about 10 hours. For some reason, they had to split our flight into two planes. So what Air France did was fly a special plane to Brest to pick up and fly group number one to Paris, fly it back to Brest to pick up group number two, and then return to Paris. We were in group number two. By the time we arrived in Paris it was close to midnight local time and we had, naturally, missed our connection a long time ago.
Pacaso, which is a relatively new (2020) co-ownership vacation home company, has been making the rounds online lately. That’s because the founders are accomplished, they’ve reserved their Nasdaq ticker, and they’re raising money from retail investors through their website.
Fractional ownership is a topic we’ve discussed a number of times on the blog. And as I’ve said before, I think it’s an answer to this real estate problem: “I have a desire to own a home, or multiple homes, around the world. However, I don’t know how often I’d actually use it/them, and this desire is both expensive and a pain in the ass.”
So it’s not surprising that the market invented timeshares, membership clubs, and fractional ownership models. Timeshares, however, have a bad rap and generally don’t involve the direct ownership of real estate. Instead, what you’re buying is the right to use a property during a certain period of time.
Fractional ownership, on the other hand, typically does involve direct ownership of the asset. In the case of Pacaso, my understanding is that each property is acquired through a single-purpose entity (usually a US LLC). Buyers then acquire a membership interest in that SPE.
This is obviously better. It’s how most real estate projects are structured legally. But there remain a number of important questions about this model: Are fractional shares in a vacation home liquid? How big is the market? And should owners expect appreciation over time?
I haven’t seen great data on this ownership model. There are lots of fractional opportunities and, in theory, a 100% sale of the home could always be offered — which should appreciate like any other property in the market. But selling fractional shares is always going to be less liquid and more challenging.
Maybe that’s okay. Maybe it’s best to think of it more like a consumer good than a real estate investment. But then, why not just spend your money on hotels when you vacation?
This could be my developer GP bias at work — where I’d rather not own an asset with a bunch of strangers and have no control — but I have a hard time getting my head around the fractional ownership model. I think it serves a very clear desire in the market. But is it a good business, and is it the optimal way to buy a vacation home?
Note: None of this is financial advice.
Air France was great, though. They set us up in a nice hotel (Pullman by Accor), gave us boxed dinners, toiletry bags, and complimentary Air France t-shirts, and scheduled us on a new flight first thing in the morning. But then, airport staff found an unidentified bag at Charles de Gaulle. So naturally, the airport went into lockdown. I later learned that when situations like this happen, and they can’t figure out who the bag belongs to, they will often use something known as a water cannon disruptor to neutralize what could be a bomb.
As I understand it, the way it works is it shoots out a high-velocity jet of water that rips through the bag and any possible wires and switches before they have time to detonate any explosives. Most of the time it’s just a bag that somebody carelessly forgot at the airport, but you never know. Safety first. Apparently this happens relatively often at large airports like CDG.
Once that safety protocol was complete, and the bang of the cannon had gone off, we were on our way, only to discover that we had already missed the last airport train. So the final leg of our journey to Paris ended up being us splitting an Uber with a nice French woman who was just in Toronto visiting a host family that she lived with to learn English. That was our travel "day."
But now that the traveling part is over, it's time for the fun bits. So, what can you expect on this blog?
As usual, I'll be posting daily. But expect more travel-related content and photoblogs. The laser distance measuring of impossibly narrow streets. Gratuitous posts about European-style urbanism. A comprehensive review of the "aparthotel" we booked in Paris (which also happens to be a real estate asset class that I'm increasingly interested in). And likely some takeaways from the meetings I have scheduled with French architects and developers.
Enjoy the long weekend, everyone.
Cover photo taken at Brest Bretagne Airport during our 10-hour layover
Air France was great, though. They set us up in a nice hotel (Pullman by Accor), gave us boxed dinners, toiletry bags, and complimentary Air France t-shirts, and scheduled us on a new flight first thing in the morning. But then, airport staff found an unidentified bag at Charles de Gaulle. So naturally, the airport went into lockdown. I later learned that when situations like this happen, and they can’t figure out who the bag belongs to, they will often use something known as a water cannon disruptor to neutralize what could be a bomb.
As I understand it, the way it works is it shoots out a high-velocity jet of water that rips through the bag and any possible wires and switches before they have time to detonate any explosives. Most of the time it’s just a bag that somebody carelessly forgot at the airport, but you never know. Safety first. Apparently this happens relatively often at large airports like CDG.
Once that safety protocol was complete, and the bang of the cannon had gone off, we were on our way, only to discover that we had already missed the last airport train. So the final leg of our journey to Paris ended up being us splitting an Uber with a nice French woman who was just in Toronto visiting a host family that she lived with to learn English. That was our travel "day."
But now that the traveling part is over, it's time for the fun bits. So, what can you expect on this blog?
As usual, I'll be posting daily. But expect more travel-related content and photoblogs. The laser distance measuring of impossibly narrow streets. Gratuitous posts about European-style urbanism. A comprehensive review of the "aparthotel" we booked in Paris (which also happens to be a real estate asset class that I'm increasingly interested in). And likely some takeaways from the meetings I have scheduled with French architects and developers.
Enjoy the long weekend, everyone.
Cover photo taken at Brest Bretagne Airport during our 10-hour layover
