CapitalGuy wrote:I guess if we just wish it, it will happen.
Nope. But you do have to think it up first. Then there's the work part. Most don't bother with Step 1. Most that do get get stumped by Step 2.
How many business plans have you ever read that somehow, some way didn't start with someone saying, "Hey, wouldn't it be neat if....?"
Market forces are real simple. You finally acknowledged the best part of it all. It really wasn't Conagra's choice to tear down JC it was actually the doing of the very same people you would have relied on to renovate these buildings.
It wasn't their "doing". There would have been no "doing" had ConAgra not held the city's chestnuts over an open fire. The owners were certainly a roadblock to progress, though, as they were doing very little to nothing with the buildings. Ultimately, the difference between the Old Market and Jobber's Canyon was the Mercers had a little vision and patience, and the owners of the JC buildings did not.
By the way did you tie yourself to the Road to Omaha statute in front of Rosenblatt?
No, because there is nothing remotely economically viable about continuing to maintain that venue. It's the very definition of lipstick on a pig. Take away the facade added a few years ago, and you have grass and some bleachers that most high schools wouldn't take as a donation. Want to bring the history downtown? Bring over as much sod as you can, bring the foul poles, bring the statue. Outside of that, you're looking at a building about that is not historically significant or long-term economically viable. The same thing can not be said about Jobber's Canyon.
I'm still waiting for someone to show me the economic impact Rosenblatt has had on the surrounding area. The one downtown isn't even built yet and people are scrambling to develop around it.
Funny how you make yourself the patron saint of historic architecture, unless it doesn't fulfill your agenda. Then of course, it is all in the name of progress.
Agenda? Not destroying a city's heritage is an "agenda"? Protecting nearly 2 million square feet of buildings on the National Register is an "agenda"?
Let's say that WalMart is looking to expand in the area of, say, southwest of 132nd and Dodge. Some might take an exception to plowing under Boys Town to put in a big box store, no? Especially when the same store cold be built 8 blocks to the east. (New Costco, anyone?) That's the trade we made with CA and JC.
I am also trying to figure out what the criteria are for historic buildings.
Wow, if Jobber's Canyon doesn't fit a definition of historic, I don't know what would. You also have to take into account the replacement project. UP's HQ replacement is certainly nothing to sneeze at, although we all would have liked to see a surface lot be used instead. The same will probably be said about the Swanson site's eventual development. I think we can all agree the Holland site was a sacrifice worth making. Post Office for the DoubleTree? Not hardly. Medical Arts for First National Tower? Debatable. Â Good Christ... look how much was destroyed by I-480, and the resulting economic separation caused buy that. Â History can be left in the past when the future is a huge improvement. I put Rosenblatt in that category. Jobber's Canyon is not.
Honestly, I don't mind you disagreeing with me. Obviously, I'm used to a lot of people not agreeing with me. But please, take a moment and come up with SOMETHING resembling a thought-out argument... because you've added ZERO to this debate. Your four initial arguments against saving Jobber's Canyon can basically be summed up by:
1) It would be hard
2) You don't know where to get capital
3) You have no vision for the area
4) You wouldn't like it when it was done
You say that my idea is purely speculative. Every business endeavor in the history of capitalism has been speculative. I'll take my chances on that the proper people would have been able to make this one work. Unfortunately, the right people were not in the right place at the right time.
And for the record, I usually walk to Patrick's. When was the last time you walked to a grocery store?
Stable genius.