Sunday, November 23, 2008

Great Debates | Dinosaur Dealers

Honda? Hyundai? Hummer Hybrid?. Who will re-inhabit the former home to our generation's dinosaurs?

Car dealerships around the metro are closing, and stark oceans of asphalt are rising along the freeways. With such quantities of urban land becoming available, how do you expect these sites to be put to re-use?

1 comment:

Jim Wilson said...

Unfortunately these dinosaurs are ill equipped buildings to be adapted for re-use. We only need to travel back in time to the 1970's to see that when big oil abandoned their "station on every corner" business model that some locations went dark for almost a decade before the lease or purchase price became reasonable for startup businesses. The price on many of these properties is also prohibitive considering the potential for environmental issues given their prior life as a vehicle maintenance facility. I don't think there are many local garage types looking to drop 5 million, which was the original asking on your H-building, on a prime locale. I also don't think that the Best Buys, CVSes, or Starbucks of the world are looking to rehab a former auto facility.