New Supertall Proposal for Chicago? 625 West Monroe Proposal

[Chicago76]

Originally Posted by im_a_lawyer

Yes there is. Condo prices are going up and up. Sub 100K apartments are gone. < 200K selection is pretty slim too. With the amount of unused land in this city, we should be building much more. Why are we always at a mercy of these luxury condo companies that only build housing for the rich anyways? This is why all new buildings look so similar - everything is being built by a handful of companies. Unemployment is above 10%. Get some of these people and start building. You cannot lose money in this business unless you're some trump douchebag who wonders why his $600,000 condos are not selling...

The bulk of the unused land is unused because most people don't want to live/work in those areas. Those are the areas that are hemorrhaging population. All big parcels you see near the CBD that are unused are waiting for someone to pay huge money for the space...which happens...over time.

If people didn't really care where they lived (as long as it was somewhere in the city), the areas where those big developers build would be less expensive, the areas where few with means want to live would be more expensive, and you'd see smaller companies taking a bigger role in real estate development. That's not going to happen any time soon.

[im_a_lawyer]

Originally Posted by Chicago76

The bulk of the unused land is unused because most people don't want to live/work in those areas. Those are the areas that are hemorrhaging population.

What? near west/south loop has plenty of space. Even then, prices are so high that it would be profitable to tear out those suburban-like gated houses and build highrises. There is so much money to be made recession, unemployment could be solved my god this is so simple... Land economics is weird in Chicago. For example, look at southern portion of near west side. How is building suburban houses more profitable than building 20 story apartment buildings? How did Home Depot, Whole Foods, Walmart acquired that land when it must have been worth 50 million+.. how many snacks do you have to sell to eventually make profit? There is no way corruption wasn't involved in any of those deals.

Originally Posted by Chicago76

All big parcels you see near the CBD that are unused are waiting for someone to pay huge money for the space...which happens...over time.

I would think that the city would have some laws against land hoarding. If not then there definitely should be.

Originally Posted by Chicago76

If people didn't really care where they lived (as long as it was somewhere in the city), the areas where those big developers build would be less expensive, the areas where few with means want to live would be more expensive, and you'd see smaller companies taking a bigger role in real estate development. That's not going to happen any time soon.

I don't understand what you're saying here. Start buying undervalued land/houses and develop it into something more. Been done for hundreds of years. Why is this business model reserved just for a few companies who only build it when they feel like building...

[Chicago76]

Originally Posted by im_a_lawyer

What? near west/south loop has plenty of space. Even then, prices are so high that it would be profitable to tear out those suburban-like gated houses and build highrises. There is so much money to be made recession, unemployment could be solved my god this is so simple... Land economics is weird in Chicago. For example, look at southern portion of near west side. How is building suburban houses more profitable than building 20 story apartment buildings? How did Home Depot, Whole Foods, Walmart acquired that land when it must have been worth 50 million+.. how many snacks do you have to sell to eventually make profit? There is no way corruption wasn't involved in any of those deals.

Good luck buying all those gated residential owners out to build your fantasy highrise. They're there today because they were built at a time when that type of construction was more profitable than the 20 story highrise. Might not be the case now, but it certainly was when they were built. time Re: places like Home Depot and Whole Foods. Those parcels weren't worth as much as you think they were. Some of them (like those on the industrial corridor) were specifically reserved for employment-based development (commercial) so residential was out of the mix. Arguably, a higher price could have been achieved if the city wasn't hell bent at the time on trying to retain manufacturing jobs that weren't going to stay in the area anyway. Now we have big box land on the Clybourn Corridor paying chump change anyway. That wasn't corruption. That was the city being unrealistic w respect to the wages businesses attracted to that area would pay.

Originally Posted by im_a_lawyer

I would think that the city would have some laws against land hoarding. If not then there definitely should be.

Nothing illegal about it. A property owner is permitted to keep their property and wait for the price they want, provided they aren't maintaining a nuisance, they stay current on their taxes, and the city doesn't want to use its police powers to induce a sale for the common good. This isn't even land banking, and land banking is entirely legal, and in many cases a good strategy.

Originally Posted by im_a_lawyer

I don't understand what you're saying here. Start buying undervalued land/houses and develop it into something more. Been done for hundreds of years. Why is this business model reserved just for a few companies who only build it when they feel like building...

People do buy undervalued land and houses, develop them, and sell them. Big developers do it and so do small developers. The key is undervalued. A small developer can't buy big parcels close to the CBD because their price assumes the highest and best use is a big building the developer can't pull off. The land is too expensive. Similarly, you can't just go buy a building in a cheaper neighborhood and expect to turn a profit post renovation. You could buy it, sink good money into it putting all the granite countertops in it you want, and if the local market won't pay you enough for it to cover your purchase+reno+a decent developer profit, then you're not going to be in business for long...which is what happens to most small developers. They think they know more than they do, they bite off more than they can chew, and they lose their shirts in the process.

You can't assume that throwing up a bunch of buildings up without regard to supply/demand, costs, and the need for developers to return a reasonable profit is going to revitalize the economy. That's kind of what got us into this mess back in the 2000s. Remember?