Pet peeve about businesses

**frugalandsimple** · 06-08-2008, 09:06 AM

What irks me is, in the city on a busy street, there are businesses that are closed, some have been for years and on the next street over connected by smaller streets, there's new businesses and a few housing developments being built all the time. What makes me mad is why can't they use businesses that are already closed or vacant before building new ones??? It's a waste of natural resources to see businesses and housing closed for whatever reason and then seeing new businesses and houses being built elsewhere. Save the trees and land!!!! Animals deserve a place to live too and one of life greatest simple pleasures is appreciating the natural beauty of nature around us.

**Dancing Lotus** · 06-08-2008, 09:15 AM

I could not agree with you more. I have ranted about this to my dh hundreds of times. It creates an eyesore to see abandoned buildings. I have been told it's cheaper to build a new one then it is to remodel and old store. I don't care if its cheaper or not , its a waste and it makes me angry.

I wish the city could get involved some how and make an ordinance that say something like X amount of empty builds have to be used before they will issue permits for new ones.

**Jskell911** · 06-08-2008, 09:58 AM

We have, all within one mile, an old mill and 2 huge unused department store sized buildings, yet smack in the middle they are in the midst of building a huge shopping area. Go figure!

**AmyMCGS** · 06-08-2008, 10:07 AM

The only thing I can think of is that the old buildings are so far beyond being repairable that they really would have to start over in order for the structure to be safe. But if that's the case, I wish they would tear down the old stuff.

**luv-my-lexi** · 06-08-2008, 04:08 PM

In our area we have a re-vitalization of the old buildings in the downtown area. They have been selling lately and they are starting new things in the area such as a soda fountain shop, a new farmers market (local growers set up and sell their items on Wed & Sat), some loft apts., some new specialty shops, etc. Anyway, our downtown is coming alive.....I love it and the old historic buildings are being used again.

**Moor** · 06-08-2008, 04:29 PM

i am so angry with the new home builders.

close to where i live (which is an older neighborhood) there was a farm, a pumpkin farm. every year we would go and get pumpkins and other decorations from them, as they were local, they had hay rides, andother things for the kids. plus, it helped our own economy, buying local. anyway, they sold the farm and it is now being turned into several different housing subdivision's! burns my britches that!

i really hate seeing new house's, businesses going up when there are empty ones. i know that people want new, but in the dayton area, there has been several major employers gone out of business and now, our gm plant is going to be closed by 2010. so that's another major employer gone.
so what are all these people going to do with all these new house's that they can't sell, because there are no jobs, and they are in default, because they HAD to have a new house, instead of buying what they really could afford?????

**janelane** · 06-08-2008, 04:57 PM

My hometown is at the intersection of two major interstates, lots of shipping lines, lots of people traveling through. In the last decade or so it's exploded into a huge shopping town, and is now billed as (inexplicably to me as it's an hour and a half away) a DC Suburb. Outlet mall, a huge new shopping center, the old mall has basically tripled in size, and they are home to the largest Wal Mart on the east coast (or at least one of, there might be bigger ones now.) Total turd polishing here, it's still an awful little place and because of the interstates is a hub of huge drug trade and has a nice little gang population and major school problems that the news turns a blind eye to, gotta attact those posh city people and all. Now there's a surplus of empty McMansions -- on what used to be small farms or wooded lands -- that no one wants because of gas prices and there's really no local jobs except for low paying retail, the people that all this stuff was built for are moving back to the city. But I digress...

The downtown isn't really all that empty. The problem I have there, besides all that other stuff, is Lowes. When I was a kid, there was a Lowes not far from where I lived, near the rail road tracks to take deliveries. Well, when the mall expanded, they added a small wal mart and they put a short cut road through, Lowes built bigger a building to be out there.

That was oh I guess 18 years ago. The building is STILL empty. The roof has caved it from ice a few years ago, it's just there in ruins. Now, they did use it -- it was used as a soundstage during the filming of *Gettysburg*. But that's pretty much the only thing. No other business has moved in and the falling down building just sits there.

Well, I guess Lowes figured out it was better to be right up against the railroad tracks, a few years ago they built yet another building RIGHT ACROSS THE STREET. They also paved over acres of trees to add a shipping/storage/distribution/warehousey thing there now, too. And the second building? They've used it for occassional overstock book sales, and right now there's a furniture clearance thing going on. But once again, for the most part, it just sits there, completely wasted, lookin' ugly and taking up space. Two of them, at that!

**FrugalMomof3** · 06-08-2008, 05:08 PM

I couldnt agree with you more! There are tons of abandoned buildings around here but instead the would rather build condos for the housing people who drive Hummers and supped up cars and they only pay no more than $100 a month rent, on top of that they do nothing about it, I mean arent they in housing because they cant afford other housing... i.e. they are poor?

Another thing I have around here is an old department store building that was one department store after another, and it's huge enough for a supermarket with tons of parking, yet on the other side they just HAD to build a new division for a supermarket, Fashion Bug, Hallmark store, etc... makes me angry!

P.S. Sorry about the housing rant, it just erks me that my tax dollars help build these housing projects and we struggle, yet they pay nothing but drive expensive cadilacs and hummers with $2000 rims.

**Persimmon Lace** · 06-08-2008, 05:34 PM

Rehabbing old buildings is almost impossible in some areas because of all the EPA ordinances concerning asbestoes and other stuff. Our town has been helping with cleanup since a BOA moved in and tore down a very old historic building. City councilmen were voted out and some ordinances eased and money found to help out those who buy the buildings with the eye to refurbishing.

**acidcookie** · 06-08-2008, 05:40 PM

I am very proud right now of a project going on in our town that combats this waste. See, Lowes decided to pack up and move to a bigger store, abandoning their original building for which the street was named (yes, it was on LOWES Blvd!). So at first I thought "Great, now there's this ugly, empty building already ugly-ing up this developing area of town." It's in a nice shopping center with Wegmans, Target, hotels, and local businesses moving in.

BUT, now there's a company building a hotel there using the original Lowes building materials! So they knocked down Lowes (thankfully it wasn't sitting there empty for too long), but in such a way that they can use as much of the materials for the new building as possible.

This little town is getting somewhere

**FrugalWitch** · 06-08-2008, 11:47 PM

I've been bitching to our city council about this issue for going on 20 years.

Just in the last eight years we have have 2 perfectly good, completely empty strip malls just sitting there wasted, yet they let businesses clear-off lots for new buildings. Mind you, the 2 small strip-malls are not falling apart, they are not in poor repair. Pi$$e$ me off royally.

**karone** · 06-09-2008, 02:27 AM

with some strip malls they rent the spaces out and sometimes the rent is just to much. i know how ya feel though. the old krogers building near my moms hasnt been taken down yet but behind it they are building a new mini hospital/dr's offices. atleast where the walmart used to be they put other stores in and some of the stores that were there originally went with the new walmart. there was also a meijers at the other end of town and they closed not to long ago so i dunno what they are going to do with it.

**Greebo** · 06-09-2008, 06:16 AM

Originally Posted by frugalandsimple

What irks me is, in the city on a busy street, there are businesses that are closed, some have been for years and on the next street over connected by smaller streets, there's new businesses and a few housing developments being built all the time. What makes me mad is why can't they use businesses that are already closed or vacant before building new ones??? It's a waste of natural resources to see businesses and housing closed for whatever reason and then seeing new businesses and houses being built elsewhere. Save the trees and land!!!! Animals deserve a place to live too and one of life greatest simple pleasures is appreciating the natural beauty of nature around us.

I don't know about where you live, but in Baltimore, a lot of the problem has been local government. Anyone wanting to tear down an old building and put up a new one has had to go through so many hurdles, faced so many fines (Oh, there was a piece of trash in the alley behind your property from your construction for 5 minutes, here's a $100 fine!), and faced such a corrupt institution of inspectors that investors stopped investing in Baltimore.

THANKFULLY, under Mayor Shiela Dixon, a lot of those restrictions and fines and penalties have been removed. Now on my commute, I'm seeing beautiful old commercial buildings being completely renovated, and at least 4 row home dead zones have been torn down. One's now a park, two are vacant lots, and one is all new pre-built modular row homes that are in the final stages of construction.

Its nice to see life starting to return to the city.