The community impact of real estate development

5/6/2014 | Real Estate Blog

The life of a neighborhood and the life of a broader community are often not unlike the lives of individuals. Both communities and individuals tend to weather ups and downs, tend to resist change, tend to ultimately undergo changes and then refocus and redefine themselves.

When you or your business is considering any kind of real estate development, it is important to keep these cycles and evolutionary principles in mind. For example, a neighborhood may have a certain feel now, but change will almost certainly affect that neighborhood over time.

Sometimes, it is fairly easy to predict how a neighborhood or community will be impacted in the short-term or even over some lengthy period of time by a set of unique circumstances. For example, if a power facility or a sewer treatment plant is set to be built within a few years at a given site, the surrounding area will almost certainly be affected accordingly. This kind of obvious evolution also frequently follows the building of community parks, fine arts facilities, schools, prisons, garbage treatment facilities and other transformative developments that affect the community widely.

Other times, the evolution of a given area is less clear. Doing some research into how a given area is zoned and how likely that zoning is to remain stable may give you some insight into what a given space is likely to evolve into over time. In either case, it is important to take the necessary ebb and flow of development into consideration before committing to any kind of real estate purchase or sale.

Source: Claremont Courier, “How current real estate development impacts the future of Claremont’s market,” Ryan Zimmerman, May 1, 2014