Quote:
Originally Posted by llamaorama
Devil's Advocate:
Why would you go and design a mixed-use development full of new residential and commercial space at a time when there's a massive glut of vacant housing in historic, established neighborhoods that are teetering, and retail is struggling everywhere? Does anyone genuinely predict a sudden rebirth of greater St. Louis?
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because there
isn't a glut of vacant housing that is
inhabitable, and the established neighborhoods, by definition, aren't teetering. the cost of rehabbing many of these 100+ year-old crumbling structures is far larger than the cost of building new in most cases.
and, since rehabbing these old structures
is so expensive, the rehabbed ones typically aren't all that affordable unless they get LOTS of incentives, which is why the rehabbed historic neighborhoods are generally more upscale and gentrified—it takes money to buy, fix up, and maintain these old places. on top of that, in many of the decimated north-side "neighborhoods" there isn't much neighborhood left. it's not a matter of just building some infill. not sure what any of this has to do with the NGA facility, though. a side note: all of the new multi-family that has been built in the central corridor and on the south side in the last 5-10 years has had no trouble filling up, so apparently the demand is there.