Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Plenty o' Nuttin

Well, I'm back, and I'll be updating over the next, few days. The immediate news in SLC is that the LDS Church gave the City Council an update on what it's going to do with the downtown malls. Some update (although the Council is sufficiently "resume speed" to believe it was). "It's taking longer and costing more." Earth to The Brethren: Real estate projects ALWAYS take longer and cost more. If you didn't build that in at the beginning, you're as dumb as the Council.

Here's a tip to whichever member of the First Quorum is in charge of this rapidly deteriorating project: The new towers need to be mostly residential. First, we need more people living downtown. Second, you've emptied three office towers downtown, and the relocations have managed to drive the vacancy rate down to 10%. That's where it ought to be, but one of your towers is about to come back on line, and a new tower is going into the 200 block of South Main. There are plans for others. The market has no use for your adding two more.