Real estate deals take time; there is a lot of money involved and everyone wants to get as much for their property as they can. The people on either side of the table have to be prepared to compromise and get the best deal possible. One legal colleague suggested that if the prime player on one side is a lawyer with a litigation practice – “what you dealing with is someone paid to fight, it’s kind of like dancing with a boxer”, she said.
So it is going to take a while for anything to come out of this – but time is what development is all about. It is the quintessential long-term view business.
There are all kinds of thinking going on. What about those heritage properties some ask? We can just let some greedy developer tear them down. Why do they have to be torn down? Well you can’t build anything if they are left there – can you? What if the buildings were moved? Take all three buildings and move them to a nearby location where they could be used to create an artist’s colony; a place where glass people, potters, painters, photographers and weavers would work in the ground floors and occupy small affordable apartment on the upper floors?
What if the Dicken’s were moved to a nearby location? What if all three historic buildings were located somewhere else? There is some very “out of the box” thinking being done on how to keep the historic buildings and at the same time fully develop the Village square site.
The city could create a Trust and put the properties into that Trust. The developer would perhaps just give the buildings to the city. Now you have heritage buildings that have been preserved and are being put to a really good use.
If you’ve been to The Dickens – well you know what I mean when I say there is nothing historically relevant about the inside of the place. It’s just another down scale, dimly lit bar that doesn’t have the best reputation for ensuring that drinkers know there limit. You have to look hard to find any appreciably history once you are inside the doors.
The other two buildings are “historical” but nothing is being done with that history. There is no plan to do anything with them by the current owners – they just want to extract as much value as they can – don’t we all?
Downtown people have wanted a supermarket for some time: is the Village Square a possible location? There are those that think this is a possibility.
There are conversations taking place and they will continue to take place until all the parties find a common ground.
