Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Can less money be a good thing?

I want to direct you to an excellent article at the B.E.L.T. blog. I check out this blog whenever I want to know what archetectural gems are still in St. Louis or which ones are in danger of demolition. I visited St. Louis a few years ago and had a strong feeling that I should move there eventually. So this blog keeps my hope up that the city will still be as beautiful and as tied to it's history as I remember. I still have a few years before I get to move anyway.

This specific article examines the results of that cities' foreclosures and some thoughts on its future; read it here.

My favorite bit of the article is this:

"Economic downturn is preservation’s best friend. When developers lose access to loans, they stop eyeing buildings for demolition."

That's one way to pull a positive out of a negative, isn't it?

3 comments:

drwende said...

It's absolutely true. Charleston, SC, has so many pre-Civil War buildings because its economy languished afterward.

Jen said...

Great point. Never thought of it that way.
Also it is good for the environment. We value what we have, buy less, and toss less.

Anonymous said...

Here in Los Angeles, one can find some of the greatest old buildings in the most economically depressed neighborhoods. So yes, I'd agree there's a bright side to the economic downturn!