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Every time I see a single level parking lot, which is basically wasting half a city block by just covering it in asphalt and painting a few lines on it, in the

Every time I see a single level parking lot, which is basically wasting half a city block by just covering it in asphalt and painting a few lines on it, in the middle of downtown, next to skyscrapers, I am painfully reminded of this fact.

sroussey 1y ago
Must be grandfathered in. Could never do that now… city would want setbacks, planters, etc and reduced effective usable area by 25%.
- potato3732842 1y ago
  Still cheaper to get screwed out of 25% capacity on a $ per space parking lot than on a $$$$$ per space parking garage. So the parking lot gets built anyway. Oh, and it winds up taking more land than it would have 50yr ago specifically because of those setbacks and planters and other garbage.
potato3732842 1y ago
Whenever you see something seemingly silly and inefficient/wasteful ask yourself what is preventing the more efficient solution. The answer is almost always that someone is paying more to deal with government in a slightly different way that reduces risk to them 1ac parking lot = easy and definite, just buy land, simple permits, etc. .25ac parking garage = difficult permits with many more places for various parties to whimsically drag their dick all over it at great expense to you, etc. Investing in a commercial structure carries massive financial risk because there are all sorts of steps along the way where the government has reserved the right to balloon your cost so 1mil of land, 2.5mil of structure and $100k of bullshit could potentially be 1mil,5mil,500k once everyone is done screwing you. The parking lot on $4mil of land and $100k of construction and $100k of bullshit can only balloon to $4mil, 200k, 200k in the worst case. Now, I pulled those numbers out of my ass but it's the basic workflow that underpins most of the "stupid" things we see being built.
- bandofthehawk 1y ago
  In many places it's parking minimums that are preventing a more efficient use of space.
  - potato3732842 1y ago
    there are many, many, many, many straws on the camel.

sroussey 1y ago

Must be grandfathered in. Could never do that now… city would want setbacks, planters, etc and reduced effective usable area by 25%.

potato3732842 1y ago
Still cheaper to get screwed out of 25% capacity on a $ per space parking lot than on a $$$$$ per space parking garage. So the parking lot gets built anyway. Oh, and it winds up taking more land than it would have 50yr ago specifically because of those setbacks and planters and other garbage.

potato3732842 1y ago

Whenever you see something seemingly silly and inefficient/wasteful ask yourself what is preventing the more efficient solution. The answer is almost always that someone is paying more to deal with government in a slightly different way that reduces risk to them 1ac parking lot = easy and definite, just buy land, simple permits, etc. .25ac parking garage = difficult permits with many more places for various parties to whimsically drag their dick all over it at great expense to you, etc. Investing in a commercial structure carries massive financial risk because there are all sorts of steps along the way where the government has reserved the right to balloon your cost so 1mil of land, 2.5mil of structure and $100k of bullshit could potentially be 1mil,5mil,500k once everyone is done screwing you. The parking lot on $4mil of land and $100k of construction and $100k of bullshit can only balloon to $4mil, 200k, 200k in the worst case. Now, I pulled those numbers out of my ass but it's the basic workflow that underpins most of the "stupid" things we see being built.

bandofthehawk 1y ago
In many places it's parking minimums that are preventing a more efficient use of space.
- potato3732842 1y ago
  there are many, many, many, many straws on the camel.