[Cro Burnham]

When all is said and done, I think all Blatstein really wants is the right to build a huge parking garage in the middle of the block and then to leverage the supposed benefits of its presence to get others to develop the rest of the site.

He says he's building the parking because the neighborhood wants it, but I think he wants it. That is his mentality. He knows how to make money from low-risk parking oriented development. He's building a garage in the middle of a block next to the Piazza in NL right now, with no real plans to develop around it.

In either case, I suspect he may not really be interested in building out the rest of the project and plans to flip that action to whoever else might want to buy it.

This Broad & Wash and the NL sites may well end up looking a lot like the Realen property at 16th & Vine - a big ugly garage in the middle of the block with an apron of parking around it that Blatestein tries for the next few decades to flip at an inflated price - a la Realen - to whoever wants to take on the risk.

I hope I'm wrong, but I really think Blatstein has done increasingly unimaginative and half-assed work over the last 10 years after a brief attempt at self-reform. At this point, I don't think he has any interest in building anything of quality. He tried, to a degree, at the Piazza, but I think in the end that kind of development just doesn't suit a guy who wants to make a quick buck with minimal effort and risk.

It's his right to be that way, but that mindset leads to lame development (see: Realen).

How I wish he would retire and sell his stuff to someone who cares.