Corpus Christi Caller Times Caller.com - Web site offers look at Y2K-proof houses

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Tuesday, May 25, 1999

Web site offers look at Y2K-proof houses
Also: Tuloso-Midway Middle School remodeling progresses
By Andrea Jares
Caller-Times

  Looking through available homes on the Internet is nothing new. But searching for homes that will buffer occupants against the supposed turmoil that will ensue at the stroke of midnight Dec. 31, 1999, is.
   A site that debuted last month at "Y2Kland.com" lists homes that are anarchy-ready for the computer chip bug that some believe will wreak havoc with water systems, electrical lighting and home security. The site even ranks available property by its viability under these feared turn-of-the-millennium circumstances.
   The site ranked a home for sale 25 miles from Corpus Christi relatively high for its potential resistance to mayhem. The 3,000-square-foot rock house sells for $400,000.
   The property earned points for its distance from a major city, large oak trees that shade a quarter of the 10-acre property, fuel tanks, a 5,000-gallon water storage tank, and a windmill. The property is also deemed Y2K-ready for the excellent soil for crops nearby, Texas laws that allow firearms, large storage areas, wild game on the property, nut trees and a wood-burning stove.
   Kristi Delaney, who maintains the Web site at Arial Marketing, said the site is a hit with some clients who are planning to move as part of their preparations for the millennium.
   "Everyone has a different idea about how Y2K will unfold,'' Delaney said. "Most people looking at this site are considering moving away from highly populated areas. I get calls two or three times a week from people who have plans to move.''
   Some want to set up self-sufficient communities, she said, in some cases parceling acres of land to residents according to their potential contribution to the community in that area.
   For real estate agents, she said, it's a chance to list their properties for free to a worldwide audience of people already preparing for the millennium.
   It's also a way for them to find a niche for selling houses on the high end of the price spectrum.
   The homeowner, who also built the home, declined to comment on the record.

  Tuloso-Midway remodeling
   Remodeling of the Tuloso-Midway Middle School that began in October is on schedule, said Superintendent Steve Waddell. The $5.5 million project is expected to be complete by the end of the year.
   "We're very pleased with the weather cooperating with us,'' Waddell said. "We've had no real problems with it.''
   Tom Gentry, project manager of the project for general contractor Moorhouse Construction Co., said the roofing phase began Monday and renovations to the kitchen area will begin as soon as school lets out.
   The project is funded by a bond passed two years ago.
   Sixth- through eighth-graders will attend the school at 9830 La Branch. The renovated 70,292-square-foot building will add 38 classrooms, a new library, office area and computer labs.
   Waddell said that every part of the building will be remodeled, replacing the air conditioning, re-roofing the auditorium and adding bleachers in the gym.
   The project also will add up-to-date technology with media retrieval systems in classrooms, including on-demand video programming and retrieval.
   These are the largest renovations done to the 30-year-old building.
   While these renovations will not address the overcrowding in the school district, construction of two other schools will begin in late winter or early spring of 2000, Waddell said.






Business reporter Andrea Jares can be reached at 886-3678 or by email at jaresa@caller.com. On Real Estate is published every other Tuesday in the business section.