Quote:
Originally Posted by PKDickman
While I agree that a fine grain organic streetscape is what makes city life attractive. breaking up a parcel this size into 50 projects only magnifies the opportunity for failure. Imagine one project in the middle being surrounded by arrested development because of swings in the marketplace.
In reality the city owns thousands of narrow lots waiting for small developers with the necessary infrastructure already under the street. Why would they want to dilute that market.
This parcel's real selling point is its size, but the pool of customers is a lot smaller.
If you had a 75 ct diamond, you wouldn't cut it up into .01ct melee just because you like pave' settings.
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Well, let's make a comparison:
The south loop east of Dearborn Park (broken into smaller, individually zoned lots)
The south loop west of DP, large swaths of land lazily sold off to developers with PD zoning.
Which one has fared better? Which one has a better urban environment? Which one would you rather live in?
Those large parcels west of DP have been full of problems: bankruptcies, fraud, even jail time. And all the while huge sites remain completely vacant and windswept as we wait for these issues to resolve.
I'm not sure I'm buying your argument. In well located real estate, it's worth a try to break up the lots and sell them off. Why not at least try?