• stoly@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    You’ve described how much of the world works. It’s almost as if the US has been living in an economic bubble for a long time and suburbs were never the answer.

    • EldritchFeminity@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      6 months ago

      Pretty sure they just mean that it’s not as easy as just converting former office buildings into livable space, and that developers are not going to want to pay the cost when it can be cheaper to demolish the building and build a brand new apartment building vs renovating the old office building. IMO, fuck what developers think about spending the upfront cost, we need housing 20 years ago now and the suburbs suck; but pointing it out to capitalists isn’t gonna get it done.

      • Optional@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        Developers will always waste resources and harm the environment for money. It’s their job.

      • TranscendentalEmpire@lemm.ee
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        6 months ago

        Pretty sure they just mean that it’s not as easy as just converting former office buildings into livable space, and that developers are not going to want to pay the cost when it can be cheaper to demolish the building and build a brand new apartment building vs renovating the old office building.

        Not only is it more expensive, but a lot of the time it’s just not possible. Why would a developer add enough room in the utility columns to add enough extra space for enough piping to accommodate several times it’s original projected water consumption?

        Add in local ordinance such as the increased fire protections required for multi family homes and you’ll begin to see some of the inherent problems people like to breeze over.

    • TranscendentalEmpire@lemm.ee
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      6 months ago

      You’ve described how much of the world works.

      No, nowhere in the world do they regularly convert sky scraping office buildings into housing.

      I wasn’t saying it’s costly or hard to build a tall residential building, just that the way the office and residential building are built are fundamentally different.