Quote:
Originally Posted by WorldTexas
I have a question that popped into my head thinking about how downtown's changed in the last ten years and the new announcement at Hemisfair -
What changed from the last boom to this one that led to more interest in low rises along the fringe?
During the last building cycle, we got 3 tall downtown residential options - Vistana, Vidorra, and Alteza. And one tower farther out - The Broadway. This time it's all been lower height options in Southtown and around Pearl.
I understand the condo finance rules changed, but Vistana has been full since it opened. Yet no new mid-rise apartments 'til Hemisfair.
Did construction costs go up? were those anamolies? ... Ideas?
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I have no idea about the economics but if I were to design a strategy to urbanize the huge area of underutilized property in and around the center it would involve a whole lot of 4-5 story mixed use and other infill. Not to discount the idea of mid rise but it is far easier to cover a lot of ground and begin to give people the feeling of choice without a car. I would take 4 square blocks of 4-5 story mixed use over a Vistana, and certainly over the other cheap condo projects. If it is a policy objective to expedite infill development whether low or midrise, it would make sense that the subsidies and fee waivers continue to be based on unit count rather than density.