Quote:
Originally Posted by LACityRat
Just my humble opinion. 
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Thanks for posting something that goes beyond the far too common, & very brief, "who, what, where & why" type of comments.
However, I have to say I'm dissapointed & puzzled about psf construction costs in LA causing highrise devlpt to be difficult to pencil out compared with what goes on in other cities where big bldgs seem to be a dime a dozen, such as all the condo/apt towers in Chicago, NYC, toronto, or the major cities of Asia or south America. Or even smaller towns like vancouver.
I saw a set of pics of Sao Paolo, posted in a SSP forum several months ago, & the number of skyscrapers there made LA look like podunk.
I like to think highrise projs in LA would pencil out if devlprs weren't so $$$ hungry, basing that on the big mark up that ppl have applied to houses they'll buy, fix up & then sell, on the "Flip that house" TV show. But is it fair to assume that devlprs are bailing out or dragging their feet because they're too greedy when someone like Astani goes through all the hassle of breaking ground on the Concerto proj only to stop in midstream?
And I can't forget that it was only around 6 or 7 yrs ago that almost NOTHING was being built in DT because devlprs said they couldn't get a high enough return on any new condo or apt proj they'd sponsor.
I know at least one or two highrise apt bldgs directly south of Disney Hall were part of an entitlement process that a devlpr got approval for back in the early 1990s. However, he was able to construct only one of 3 towers, and that was it. Now here it is 2007 & those sites still are parking lots. Only the new Grand Ave proj may bring them back to life. But even the Related Cos isn't talking about doing anything with those properties til several yrs into the future.