Quote:
Originally Posted by esquire
Phase 1 has led to plans for TOD by the Winter Club and work has already begun at the Fort Rouge site. Obviously the incomplete nature of the line built to date is not helping to get people to consider a transit lifestyle, though. Phase 2 includes plans for a big TOD on the Parker lands so it is inaccurate to say that there is no TOD. One big project under construction with two in the works is not bad considering what a half-assed little stub of a line constitutes rapid transit in this city.
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Well, I think we need to be a little more considerate of all the risk still attached to these projects. For one, that Winter Club site first belonged to a group of investors who were working with Akman. They couldn't make the project work, so they sold the land to Globe (The Morantz Family). They rezoned it RMU and quickly put it up for sale knowing that they also couldn't make it work, so that project is still just an old Tennis court and likely will be for a long time.
The Ft. Rouge Yards? There's so much conjecture coming from that development nobody knows where it truly stands. The most rosy outlook had them breaking ground this year. That's obviously not going to happen at this rate. And there are 900 units to sell over all. A pre-sale phase this long for the first phase does not portend well. Streetside has their rezoning and is about to start pre-sales, but they're going to have a hell of a time in this market.
Parker isn't going to be any easier. It's also the same developer which makes things even more complicated. If Marquess can't unload Ft. Rouge in a timely fashion, he won't be able to access financing for Parker. And he's not going to cannibalize his existing sales by giving the purchaser more options. If it pays him to, he'll sit on the land for the next fifteen years until he's comfortable developing it, because you can bet he won't be selling it.
I'm just looking at this TOD from a rational standpoint. It isn't going to be developed at the rate the public wants; it's going to be developed at the rate the developer wants and his interests run totally opposite to the city's...