They can be responsible and conservative and still lead. They don’t have to develop the whole site at once. If they develop a great plan for the space with staged development, they can induce more development AND help increase the value of the land. They could create the vision and develop a single signature building to kick start the development. Let’s say they develop a mid-rise mixed use on the corner across from the Omni, Park, and arena that becomes the gateway to the development and show the quality and type of vision they will promote. It doesn’t have to be a huge investment. A 12-15 story building with a 10,000 sq ft footprint can be built for $25-35 million. Then, if they invite other developers to join them in developing additional pieces of the site, they can kick start the whole thing.

We have gotten into the mindset that we need huge projects and single developers when we really need many developers and significant smaller pieces added one at a time.