Quote:
Originally Posted by sirkingwilliam
I agree, you obviously misinterpreted the pictures posted. No worries, it happens.
However, I don’t think it’s a waste that there’s no retail. Not every residential development has to have retail, if it did, then you’re just creating a lot of unnecessary vacancies that will not get filled or take a lot longer to fill. Empty store fronts is not a pretty visual. The developers obviously did their due diligence and probably saw there wasn’t enough demand for retail to outset any costs or loss of residential space.
If building retail meant a higher profit potential, they’d have built it into the development.
Again, would it have been nice to have retail, sure. But the absence of retail is not a waste in my opnionX
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I respectfully disagree. On a lot that big and that close to downtown (it actually is downtown) to not even have one retail space on one of the corners is a waste.
And I don't mean to sound snarky, but I don't know how else to communicate this in response to your POV, so I apologize for the seeming snarkiness in advance. It isn't obvious that the developers did their due diligence if they "probably" saw there wasn't enough demand. If you show me their study results, I'll believe it's a fact. Even then, it's not just about how much demand there is now; its about how much demand there will be when they create it, and when others create more after seeing their results. As it is, this is just going to create more traffic and more need for the residents to go elsewhere. Maybe they only studied San Antonians' opinions, and as most people on this forum have indicated they are aware of, San Antonio is a very car-centric city in which most people just aren't aware of another way to live because they haven't experienced it. Whereas people who might move there from New York, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, Miami, Seattle, or any other more expensive city whose people get transferred to less expensive city such as San Antonio, would likely prefer to have a cafe and dry cleaner in their building. If 500+ people live in this building, that's plenty of daily business for a diner, corner store, etc.
Forgive me, but I get tired of people making excuses for the lack of retail in urban residential buildings. Anybody who has ever lived in one of the cities I mentioned is well aware of the need and demand for it. Yeah, it might sit empty for a few months, but the building will be there for 100+ years. That's 100+ years without retail. That's the loss of a golden opportunity to create a more livable setting and eventually triple the rent on the retail establishment as so often happens in those cities I mentioned. That's a waste. That's many different kinds of wastes.
Anyway, that's my blah blah. Please take it in a good light.
