quote:
There's still so much room to build "out", I don't see them building "up".
From what I've been reading and learning from various sources is there really isn't much room for building out as a lot of people think.
A lot of the land that isn't "built out" but could be developed easily (existing water/sewer service nearby) is under contract for future oil wells. (specifically some of the land north of bluebird park, some of the land west of the city along 191, and all the area between 191, the airport and business 20.) It's very hard to anything around oil wells. Property values plummet and developers couldn't turn a profit with as high as construction pries are right now.
Outside of those pieces, there are a few sparse pieces of land here and there that could be developed and they will be; very soon I'd wager. You can see it now. The apartments next to buffalo wild wings, the subdivisions south of Andrews Highway inside the loop, and some of the area around Highway 80. That's all being built out quickly.
When you get outside of the city limits, you run into the problem of water service. The groundwater around Midland is of poor quality that is unfit for consumption as a public water supply source. You have to treat it for a number of things and you may even have to do full surface treatment as the TCEQ is calling that formation a Groundwater under the influence of Surface water (aka a GUI) depending on where you are.
The City is and I don't want to say hesitant/reluctant but... delaying extending service to areas that have a high potential for abandonment if a bust happens. That's a lot of money spent on infrastructure that will ultimately be a waste. On top of that the city would be required to flush those lines a lot to maintain a good chlorine residual if they're building a large dead end line to a few developments.
Compounding all of that is the CRMWD. We will soon have the same severe water restrictions we had last summer when the heat hits and the lakes drop to dangerous levels again. The pipeline will help supplement our water supply but it cannot be a sole source.
As we are all too aware of, there is an 8,000 unit housing shortage give or take depending on who is doing the estimating. It is clear we are in desperate need space. Residential, commercial, offices, the lot. My opinion is that the tower is a bit overkill, but necessary.
As far as the 'abandoned' downtown buildings...many have asbestos problems, if I recall correctly. Any time you renovate certain aspects of a building like that, you trigger certain laws and the developer is required to do a complete renovation and bring it up to full code compliance. At that point you're basically tearing down everything but the inner structure and starting over. It's often cheaper to just build something new.
The next two years are pivotal to defining how Midland is going to survive the current boom.
