[quote=CA renter][quote=AN][quote=The-Shoveler]That’s kind of the point, it grows organically as a location matures and grows, it’s not force fed.
When the strip mall owner is suddenly offered 10-20 million for his land, the Biz owners will mostly like get something too, it just kind of works itself out.[/quote]But areas like built out suburbs won’t grow, unless it already has an urban core w/in it. If it doesn’t, it will most likely just stand still as a suburb. Have you seen very many suburb with no urban core reinvent/grow itself and add an urban core?
Even if the strip mall owner might get offered 10-20 millions for his land, the surrounding residence won’t let that strip mall be converted to an urban core with mix use. That’s my point, I just don’t see that happen. A strip mall can be renovated, but it will stay a strip mall.
Also, you don’t want just any strip mall to be converted to mix used urban core. You want your urban core to be near freeway/public transit. Those are the kind of things that need proper planning.[/quote]
You’d be surprised. My MIL’s neighborhood in LA looks vastly different today than it did just 10-15 years ago. Her house is beginning to look like the old man’s house in the movie “UP,” when the big city was being built all around the quaint little house. (the second picture down)
They’ve torn down some old favorites (houses and businesses) and built up 4-5 story buildings in their places. It’s happening all over the place in the older parts of LA, including the suburbs.[/quote]You’re right, it does happen, but I think on average, it very hard to rezone. Every city and suburb have a different feel and desire. So, just because some suburb are willing to rezone and become more dense doesn’t mean the vast majority would. That essentially is my point, it’s more likely to see houses/strip malls/business buildings remodeled and rebuilt within the same footprint. I think it’s more rare to see a strip mall converted to a high dense urban center where you now have mixed use zoning where it wasn’t there before. If you take a look at all the suburbs/strip malls/etc in America and see how many actually get upzoned and change drastically. I don’t have data, but my gut feeling is a very small % actually go through the kind of transformation that you’re talking about and what got displayed in the movie “Up”.
You can easily look at some of the older part of San Diego as a prime example. You have places in San Diego that were built at the turn of the last century. Yet, the general zoning of them haven’t changed all that much over the last 50 years. Better yet, just look at One Paseo and Carmel Valley as a prime example. All the opponents seems to oppose it because it’s a mix use project. If it’s purely a strip mall, there won’t be as much objection. The opponents objects to the change in zoning because it’ll be detrimental to their quality of life. Once this is built as a strip mall, do you seriously think they will tear it down w/in our life time and rebuild it as a mixed used town center? My gut feeling say there’s a 0% chance of that happen. Once this is built, it’ll stay as what it is w/in our life time. It might get remodeled over the years, but the zoning won’t change.
