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ON THE FIVE POINTS KENNY'S SITE 

So the Kenny’s project has stalled.  As much as I like development and things moving forward I can’t say I am sad about the whole mess.  There were three interrelated factors at play in the Kenny’s saga (if anything involving a few blocks built on swampy land can be called a saga.)

Zoning

To be honest, Five Points isn't so important that there can't be a building to the limit of or even taller than local zoning allows.  I am very curious to know what is historic about 5 Points.  Is it the historic College Mart?  The historic Harpers? (I vaguely recall it was originally a short-lived burger chain called Delights.)  How about the pseudo-historic marquee on Harden? Is that historic? 

Truth be told, Five Points isn’t really that historic, unless you are referring to a history of flooding. Are there even any buildings in Five Points that are protected structures?  Apparently the only thing that people saw as historic in Five Points was that buildings in it are short.  I think I heard someone say the height restriction helped preserve the “historic character” of the area.  That is like saying a bad toupee preserves the historic nature of someone’s dignity.  So unless you can tell me what was so important that a huge stink was made about an extra few feet in height I am at a loss.  In the land of one- and two- story buildings, the five-story building will stick out just as much... not that Place on the Greene and the old folks home high rise at the corner of Blossom and Harden stand out at all.  It would have provided more retail space, parking and residents… presumably ones with more disposable income than the college students that dominate the commerce in 5 Points.

Parking

When exactly is there a parking problem in Five Points?  I will give you the three examples I can think of: Friday and Saturday nights and during the lunch hour.  I think that is about it.  Those are the three specific times when someone might have to walk more than three blocks from their parking spot to their destination. (Granted at lunch in August those three blocks seem like the Bataan death march)  So did Five Points need this extra parking? Sure, a little extra parking tucked into the second floor of a building is always good.  Should the city have paid for it? No. Give me a good reason that my tax money should be spent on parking spaces.  And if we look at my earlier examples, two of the three times the parking is needed—Friday and Saturday nights—parking is free in city metered spots. In theory, the city will have an even harder time meeting it’s debt service on the bonds it would issue to pay toward the construction of the parking structure.

If parking is so necessary and demand is so high, why wouldn't it have been worth the extra expense for the builders to build a private pay lot into the building and lease it out to a parking management company?  What reason did they have for not doing it themselves?  There are several reasons: they aren’t financially sound enough to take advantage of the perceived opportunity; they lack any kind of business acumen; or the perceived opportunity isn't as financially viable as people think.  In the third case, that means that city officials—who I chalk up to having negative amounts of business acumen (I am thinking of setting up a three card monte game in front of City Hall to help fund my retirement)—were about to use our money on a bad idea.  Which brings us to my final point.

Project Viability

Is there even a current market for new condos and retail at this point?  With the state of the national economy, let alone the state economy, the developer would have to reexamine its plans to see how they will work now.  Clearly the large amount of money the city was willing to fork over for potentially needless parking was a large factor in keeping this project going in these uncertain economic times.  That money would have covered a large portion of the project’s total cost.  And again, what benefit would the taxpayers get out of it?  Not really much of anything.  We don’t get a limited liability stake in the company that will ultimately own the building and make a profit off of the development.  We get the chance to pay for parking in a structure that we paid for!  That sounds like a great idea. 

The final result is the city should stay out of the real estate business it and let the market decide.  Doesn’t city council have better things to worry about than zoning and parking like improved fire and police service, water and sewage service, and increased economic efficiency?

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3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."