Thursday, August 27, 2009

Density Fantasies


Reburbia

Hey! there's an idea! Replace the greensward with 9 foot wide 2 plus story office space, delete 1/3rd of the parking and bingo. Urban renewal.

21 comments:

Captain Nemo said...

Has anyone noticed the price of Goldspring today? Up 40%

Peripheral Visionary said...

To take the contrarian view, I rather like the buildings on the street with the parking behind. It is aesthetically much more pleasing--and I realize this is a major revelation to real estate developers, but it turns out that people actually like aesthetically pleasing. Neighborhoods with old-fashioned streetfront shopping actually command a premium over neighborhoods with yawning abysses of parking in front of gigantic windowless gray box discount outlets--crazy, but true.

I will admit that developers have not yet figured out the optimal layout of storefronts, walkways, parking, etc. But they're making progress, and the new developments with street-facing stores, parking behind, and condos up top are not bad, if not ideal. In the meantime, the strip malls are going the way of the dodo, and they will not be missed.

Peripheral Visionary said...

One more point: taking out the greenery is not ideal. I think I'd prefer taking out the drive-around fast food place, leaving the trees in place, and putting the new street-facing properties just behind the existing trees. Put the fast food on the first level and the offices or condos above, done.

Re: the markets, it's like a tornado hit the landfill, the trash is absolutely flying.

Property Flopper said...

PV - The fast food places REALLY want the drive around feature though - at least the drive up window part of it. A big percentage of business goes through those windows and you don't have customers sitting in your place - they get the food and go.

Very profitable for the fast food places to have the drive thru. I agree though, they look ugly, I'd rather not see them.

Jean ValJean said...

tee hee.

Goldspring IS up.. up 40% earlier... 25% now as I type this.

http://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=GSPG.OB#chart1:symbol=gspg.ob;range=5d;indicator=volume;charttype=line;crosshair=on;ohlcvalues=0;logscale=on;source=undefined

Best part? http://island2012.com/?p=39&cpage=1#comment-108

Jean ValJean said...

BAAAAHH
bad link.

Snowflake sold YESTERDAY:

http://island2012.com/?p=39&cpage=1#comment-108

segfault said...

For crying out loud... Who wants their office next to a noisy drive-through?

pdb said...

They completed a nouveau strip mall like this near my house about two years ago, with office space built ABOVE a Burger King. It's STILL empty. It will probably stay empty forever until they find a client who wants their office to smell like fry grease...

Unknown said...

Sing along:

"Casey Serin is completely heterosexual
Casey Serin is completely heterosexual
Casey Serin is completely heterosexual
Glory How-He-Blew-Ya!!" :-)

Lou Minatti said...

I noticed the first name of the architectural designer is Galina. Are you dropping hints again, Rob?

w said...

Rob, your final exam question is...How do you turn the Paraiso shopping center into a thriving entity?

Rob Dawg said...

Ummmm, Spanish speaking shop owners?

w said...

I think that might cause white flight Rob. Paraiso is the little shopping center in the middle of Dos Vientos. The VC Star has had a few things on it recently in the paper I thought maybe you were following it.

Lost Cause said...

Funny they are doing the opposite in spanish-speaking Santa Ana. Starbucks and HomeTown Buffet strip mall right in the middle of the Barrio.

TJandTheBear said...

I'd say this Reburbia contest winner was definitely the work of a dense individual.

Davin said...

Any chance that 2012 is the year chosen by Casey because he now thinks that that’s when the world will end, so he can actually spend the money we send him without having to worry about keeping his promises. I know he fell for 9/11 conspiracies, so it’s quite likely that he also think 2012 is the Apocalypse. By the way, please start posting on Casey again, or else I'll have to start my own blog. It's just so outrageous what he doing these days.

Jean ValJean said...

@Davin:

That's what Steveserin.com is for.

Unknown said...

Rob Dawg

You need to start covering Lenny Dykstra, he's an older version of Casey.

Start with:

http://kevincoughlin.blogspot.com/

Lost Cause said...

Islands are a lot cheaper and more available than Casey thinks. He has done his homework, as usual.

Peripheral Visionary said...

Completely off-topic, but I've pretty much had it with the conspiracy theorists over at Zero Hedge. The ravings about volume going into the close are particularly idiotic--the last five minutes and the first five minutes of trading have always had the heaviest volume of the day, were these guys born yesterday? I think the sun could rise in the morning and those guys would blame it on the Goldman-Government Conspiracy™.

Lou Minatti said...

PV, I agree about Zero Hedge, but it's fun to read. So many of the older blogs have jumped the shark and have become echo chambers with the same 20 people racing to see who can make the snappiest comment.

Got popcorn?