Quote:
Originally Posted by drummer
Sadly, the boom in Asia is largely Rainey St.-sized apartment complexes (we're talking 5,000-10,000 units) that sit mostly empty. Many of them are owned for the sake of "investment" but sit empty. There are so many ghost towns over here it's ridiculous. I'll attest that many new additions to Asian skylines are empty boxes in the sky - the exception of which are those that are built in central business districts (non-residential buildings). For those of you who hit on the importance of the street experience (and I agree 100%), imagine blocks of mostly empty high-rises, albeit some built with ground-level retail, all sitting empty. It's actually kinda creepy. It also has added to the endless sprawl of many cities over here - but think Houston suburbs on a Chinese scale - and all six floors or more. I'll take slow and steady over mindless development any day.
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That is really fascinating. I've wondered about that and about development in Dubai, a city of about 2.1 million with real-estate space that seems to almost rival New York city (8.4 million)—are those buildings occupied at all?
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