[flar]

Originally Posted by worldwide

I think the buildings are demolished and turned in to parking lots for tax purposes more so than because they are viable parking lots. i think the math looks like this:

parking income minus property tax on a parking lot

is greater than:

potential rental income minus building property tax and maintenance


this is especially true of vacant or abandoned buildings.

the city is also more likely to approve a shoddy building design on a parking lot/vacant lot than if an existing building is on site. this would be more true of a city like london, On or Regina, Sk than Toronto, Montreal, or Vancouver who tend to have higher standards for any new construction, period.

And the whole situation feeds on itself, as the owners of these lots want Toronto prices for them and are willing to hold onto them indefinitely. So more stuff gets demolished whenever somebody actually wants to put up a new building.