Quote:
Originally Posted by someone123
I wonder how much this held back the early resurgence of downtown. The effect may have been pretty significant, e.g. imagine if the Texpark towers had been built before 2008. The quality of developments is mostly higher now, so shifting development later in time can be good too, but I think when it comes to something like downtown development there is a big advantage to having a critical mass of residents catered to by businesses and an ecosystem that supports regular projects that developers can basically "iterate" on like what Southwest has done. The developers often seem to get better by doing.
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I feel like there were a number of factors at play. I think the planning rules had gaps that both sides could leverage, it seems like the market was only just starting to pick up, there still seemed to be a tendency to lean towards condo which seems to stall out with pre-sales. I think your last point is a big one, I think a bulk of the big developers today were still maturing. Dexel is a great example of progression as they complete more projects. Westwood, who this thread is about is another great example. I think it’s great the market is full of enthusiastic local developers.
Regarding Richmond Yards above grade work starting early, ahead of full approvals - I assume this would be at their risk, going beyond a permit approval. Similar to Southwest getting prepped to go at the Cunard site. Seeing the market, maybe they feel the risk of having to change plans outweighs the risk of starting 6 months later.
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