The problem with allowing the space to sit empty is that the City is subsidizing the bond payments on the P&L District. This is because the promised sales tax receipts have not been high enough to make the payments. So when spaces are allowed so sit empty for years, taxpayers have to make up the difference in bond payments. If rents are lowered, it gets businesses in the spaces to help increase sales taxes the District generates, so that taxpayer money will be available for many other pressing needs.beautyfromashes wrote: ↑Fri Aug 02, 2019 3:32 pm You said:There has absolutely been interest. These companies went on to be very successful with leases that were cheaper and didn’t have their landlord trying to grab profits. Fact! Are you really saying, like you seem to above, that there has been zero interest in the empty spots in the district? That that is why they are so many empty ones? Because, I could rent the rest of the district out in a week. I wouldn’t get your astronomical prices but it wouldn’t sit empty for a decade.DColeKC wrote: ↑ Cordish will lease a parking spot if they can make money. No one has been interested and that’s directly from the lease manager who profits off of leasing!
That is what pisses so many local residents off. They see City money being diverted for bond payments while there is no enough money for basic services. That is why you see groups putting initiatives on the ballot to cap incentives. This turns people off to incentive use, and creates opposition to using them in the future to do projects that certainly will pay themselves. It makes the populace unwilling to even consider those. Thus, stasis for other parts of downtown that still need redevelopment.
So it's all well and good for Cordish to have space sitting empty for years hoping for premium rents, because the City is making up the difference for the unproductive space.