Quote Originally Posted by DetBill View Post
Im afraid we will be asking this same question a year from now. Just hoping Hudsons site starts on something visible from ground level within a year and that it has an idea what exactly they are building and its purpose. It was mentioned earlier here that city office and residential demand and needs are at a premium. Bedrock has done incredible things but thats a marketing hype Bedrock has been using for several years now to hopefully encourage new investors and tennants. Reality is its no where near that..The proof is in the putting.. Progress presently downtown is good, but not at a break neck pace. These major projects are progressing very slowly or none at all. Completing the Book Tower will be a great accomplishment and they seem to be-on point there. Very slow development like we are experiencing on the other big projects simply doesn’t happen in a demanding market as developers construct as fast as they possibly can to meet real demands. Downtown is actually doing very nicely, and we should all be very proud of it, and there’s certainly good solid new development coming in, but I really feel we’re at a ratio now that our needs are being met by existing facilities, renovations, and some smaller new development. Large new commercial tenants and hotel conglomerates are not lining up to get into downtown presently,, thats why Hudsons is crawling, and Monroe is completely stalled.
The City is still a very difficult place to do business and developments. It has gotten much better no question, but “getting better” is still well short of being good.

Bedrock has the past experience, money, and connections to get things accomplished. But for developers not familiar with the process, it is often too complicated to get the necessary permit approvals. Adding onto the onion, the city has historically been both very corrupt and incompetent. Thus when a developer today runs into red tape, an
unfamiliar developer likely doesn’t know if they are just at a bureaucratic stand still, or if they need to pay someone off. It is more often the former, but given the city’s past, it is easy to see why an unfamiliar developer might think it is the latter.

Anyway, all of that makes it complicated for new developers to join Bedrock and crew in the city. Without enough financial backing and someone to guide you through the process, the maze can be overwhelming.