"Building by Building, Parcel by Parcel"

As money-poor mega-developments become less feasible to construct, builders may soon have to revert to developing at a smaller scale--a strategy that makes still more sense economically.

1 minute read

March 11, 2009, 10:00 AM PDT

By Judy Chang


"The plan should encourage different developers to bid on land and projects, building by building and parcel by parcel. That's how urban development happened before mid-20th century "urban renewal" introduced the idea of the mega-development. Rather than developing Poplar Point all at once by a single developer, the a wide array of builders should develop it block by block. That way, if one builder encounters financial difficulties, the whole project doesn't come to a halt.

Once the new neighborhood is fully constructed, if one parcel becomes vacant, it will not be as much of a fiscal strain on the whole neighborhood. A vacancy puts fiscal strain on the landlord due to lost rent. If one real estate company owns an entire neighborhood, one vacancy indirectly puts strain all other tenants. Or worse yet, what if the landlord company goes out of business? What happens then? A single landlord for an entire neighborhood also diminishes the diversity of real estate products, and consequently on the diversity of residents and businesses."

Monday, March 9, 2009 in Greater Greater Washington

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