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Waiting Out Recession Will Be Worth It for Condo Industry
The Memphis News
Whether it’s called an overhang, a lot of inventory or a bust, the ill effects of condo fever in Memphis are still a threat to the city’s recovery in a recession.
Such projects built for one purpose but that find new life in a different incarnation are the story of big cities across the country. They are also the story of American capitalism, where there's risk even in following the lead of experienced developers who still got caught with empty condos as the recession flared.
Memphis has seen it before as Hickory Hill flowered in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Homeowners were so anxious for the sense of place the area offered that many moved into new homes that since have remained largely empty. And private enterprise comes with the right to fail as well as the right to prosper.
The consequences for public policy and the growth of the city in a planned way can be substantial.
As we wait for the recession to lift, we can use the time to better define the communities we want once the financing is available to fill these houses and make them homes.
It’s to be hoped the financial safeguards that balance risk and opportunity will be more evident when the housing market returns. If so, we are unlikely to see the unsustainable and unrealistic boom that at times has emerged in Memphis.
Even so, the south end of Downtown has been changed irreversibly. The area’s development, condo and otherwise, stands poised to cross Crump Avenue and ignite South Memphis.
But it won’t happen without people willing to take reasonable risks with private money. Good planning can help with that risk by doing what money can’t – making real the promise of durable communities that are more than points on a map.
Such planning allows homeowners and renters to build lives and security as well as grow the value of their investments.
Either option is possible when our goal is communities where people choose to live instead of a place they have to live.
Cities need dreams like One Beale. They also need a financial foundation grounded in a reality that is just as firm as the foundation that will one day allow such a project to be added to the Memphis skyline.
Now is the time to keep our focus on what happens at ground level.
The Memphis that is emerging is one where rentals can be mixed with single-family homes and retail stores nearby. Good planning is the mortar that can bind these diverse elements into a cohesive and diverse community.
The public and private projects that made it through the pipeline before the recession hit point to a bright future. What we do now will determine whether it’s a promise kept or a dream deferred.
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