Posted on 05/13/2023 8:20:53 AM PDT by Kaiser8408a
“The smart thing to do would be to start converting some of those unused office buildings into apartments or dormitories.”
I know several developers who worked on these types of projects over the years.
Major obstacles include:
—Plumbing and other infrastructure needs really are different in residential buildings. It can cost big bucks to make the changes. In some cases it is cheaper to demolish the building and start over.
—Crime in the neighborhood. Good luck finding suckers who want to pay you a high rent so their stuff can get stolen or their car can get windows broken.
—Crime in city parks. When it is time to walk the dog or get fresh air it is not safe in most American cities.
—Taxes. Many of the large cities have extra income and sales taxes. Nobody wants to move into that.
—City building codes. Large city building departments combine incredible bureaucracy with stupid inspectors. That is if you are lucky. If you are unlikely they will shake you down for bribes.
—Historical preservation and other environmental regulations. They can turn downtown renovation projects into planning nightmares—and can greatly inflate the costs.
—Bottom of the barrel residential tenants. They can break you when they refuse to pay rent, refuse to leave or trash the place. Being an urban landlord or manager of such projects is very challenging at best—and it is very easy to go bankrupt on these buildings.
Perhaps they should be repurposed into homeless/illegal immigrant housing, hm?
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