Sunday, December 31, 2006

Building Boom in NYC Hits the Wall

According to today's Post, the building boom in NYC has hit the wall. We in Queens know that overall, the housing market may have levelled off, but that they will continue to tear down our neighborhoods and sit on the vacant land until demand once again goes up.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is an amusing spin. Sales are off because:

1. Vacant land is gone.
2. The heated frenzy has created temporary bottlenecks.
3. Down zoning.

Even overbuilding will not stop urban rot.

Remember the experience of overbuilding 100 year ago in Harlem? Solid middle class units churned out by the thousands. They ignored reality (sounds familiar?) and completely swamped the market. Block after block with no one to move in.

So, what did the developers do? Well of course, they used this as an opportunity to exploit people!

They subdivided townhouses, got property cheaply as they block busted the community when they opened accommodations to African-Americans, charged them an outrageous premium for the privilege of living in that crowded housing, and never put a penny back into the community.

Sounds familiar?

Anonymous said...

On reading the previous post, it brings to mind one thing I do not understand.

Why is it that when it comes to creative imagination the developers are front and center?

The preservation community seems to be always caught flat-footed and trying to play catch up.

Why?

Anonymous said...

This is an easy one. The preservation community is coming from entitlement. They do not reflect NYC, but only a tiny elite minority with traditional access and resources. So if you never have to apply yourself, you never developed into a street fighter. You get fat and lazy.

In the outer boroughs, things are different. The principal that guides us out here is 'we have no money, therefore we must think.'

The developers? Well you got to respect them, because they are hungry and focused.

The only problem with the Manhattan crowd is their 'let them eat cake' attitude towards the outer borough is catching up with them. Their elitism and lack of interest in developing a city-wide preservation movement at the grass roots is now coming back to haunt them. They have no support in the political process. Having a silver spoon in your mouth looses out to putting silver coins in your pocket.

After overrunning the outer provinces, the barbarians (read developers) are now at the gates of Rome, and unused to, and shocked at, not having their whims catered to, the Manhattan preservation community is running around like extras in 'Chicken Run.'

As a measure of their desperation, they are reaching out for support from … the outer boroughs.

Yea, sure.

verdi said...

Given the "architectural" styles that are being built today, such as the "High-Rise-Storage-Box-Unit-Block": A developer can easily transform this "type" into either an apartment house, hotel, warehouse or prison! (Regarding the latter, only if the construction is solid enough) ! Whatever his pocketbook desires and whatever is appropriate for the current real estate market. With this formula, you just can't go wrong! A truly convertable structure!.......VERDI