Friendswood, Texas, June 17, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Jerome Karam requires little introduction to anybody familiar with the real estate scene of Texas and Louisiana. Having first made his name as a private attorney specializing in business litigation and accident injury cases, Karam really came to his own as a visionary entrepreneur once he put on the rail his real estate company JKM5 Holdings LLC back in 2000. Karam's specialization as a real estate developer lies in converting, renovating and remodeling old buildings and properties for new uses. To date, he has remodeled and repurposed at least eight abandoned retail facilities and has converted more than 12 apartment buildings into large and spacious condominiums.
Achievements of Jerome Karam are numerous and you can find all you want to know about them in a great number of online articles as well as elsewhere. In the present piece, however, we aim to focus primarily on the work method and philosophy of Karam as a real estate developer. This would also give us some valuable insight into why the man has been able to achieve as much success with his projects as he already has.
A native of Louisiana, Karam came from humble backgrounds. However, for our purposes, it may be interesting to know that both his and his wife's family had connections with the real estate and this, among other things, helped him gain a good insight into the workings of the real estate market. As a former attorney, he already had a good knowledge of how the business and the market functions. And all of these knowledge and information went to play a vital role in his part as a successful real estate developer.
The Falstaff Breweries
A more than adequate insight about Karam's work method can be gained from a study of his repurposing of the abandoned Falstaff Breweries. Part of this huge 330,000- square feet property, damaged in the Hurricane Harvey of 2008 and bought by Karam in 2015, has already undergone a significant redo. A cruise ship terminal parking, a boutique hotel and a plush rooftop events venue are already in use and, in the pipeline is a vast indoor climate controlled storage space.
Now, let's have a brief look at how Karam proceeded with the project. He started with clearing up a 100,000-square feet space and quickly streamlining it as an outdoor/indoor parking facility for the cruise ship terminal located close by. And the further projects on the site were then partially funded from the sale proceeds of this parking structure.
The next phase of the project included building the posh rooftop venue as well as the windowless, flood-proof and climate controlled storage spread across six stories. This sort of pairing of purposes may seem a little puzzling to some and yet when we consider the structure of the actual building, the practicality of the plan clearly emerges into view.
For the brewery was basically a windowless building containing gigantic refrigerated vats and was crowned with a rooftop patio-like 'tasting room'. And once we know this, it is hardly difficult anymore to gauge the practicality of the rooftop venue and the huge internal storage, right?
What is more, not interfering with the basic structural pattern of the building also meant that the reboot project was careful about maintaining the historical integrity of the building and this in turn, meant receiving tax reliefs from town authorities such as The Galveston Historic Foundation and Federal Historic Preservation. Do we see the logic now?
Taking Up Challenges
According to Jerome Karam himself, he likes to take up challenges that others would usually shy away from. A shining example of this is his renovation of the Mall of the Mainland in Texas City, another of Karam's crowning glories. Before he acquired the property, the Mall had reportedly changed owners many times already and was finally closed down a little before a year Karam bought it. And yet, the building today already houses, among other commercial units, the nation's biggest trampoline park as well as the largest gym facility in the state of Texas!