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Opinion
Interesting story by Sarah Mausolf concerning lease and rental real estate in Eagle, both residential and commercial. During hearings for Eagle River Station, many mentioned the abundance of empty properties in town.
I understood this was supposed to be a “retail” project to generate sales tax. It has always been a question why former Town Planner Bill Gray urged Trinity/RED to include such huge numbers of residential properties in ERS. I wonder what a new planner on the town staff would have done with that in the current environment. Yet the trustees have chosen to move ahead with this huge project without any planner and ignore Eagle property and business owners in favor of an out-of-state developer.
I visited a “lifestyle” shopping mall in Scotsdale recently, which could have been developer RED's. The architecture is identical to what they have proposed for Eagle. The four-story buildings were shading the walking areas of the streets (which is great in the desert), and the streets were virtually empty.
The developer tried to sell the condos and then took them all off the market and rented them to recover some of the losses.
I spoke with two clerks in two beautiful stores, Talbots and Coldwater Creek. (There was only one other mod store left and several popular restaurants.) The Nordstrom's had moved out after only six months of being open, and six other stores went with them.
I was the only person in each store, and when I mentioned the lack of people, they both commented that after lunch, some people usually came in. Not a sustainable situation. The clerks were leery of their jobs and their stores closing, as well. This is in an area of more than 3 million people.
I urge all voters to vote “no” on ERS. There is too much uncertainty in the economy, and those folks who think they are going to get a job in the development are going to starve before RED even digs the first hole. That is clearly the developer's time frame. Three to six years is a long time to be without a job.
Suzie Shepard, Eagle
I understood this was supposed to be a “retail” project to generate sales tax. It has always been a question why former Town Planner Bill Gray urged Trinity/RED to include such huge numbers of residential properties in ERS. I wonder what a new planner on the town staff would have done with that in the current environment. Yet the trustees have chosen to move ahead with this huge project without any planner and ignore Eagle property and business owners in favor of an out-of-state developer.
I visited a “lifestyle” shopping mall in Scotsdale recently, which could have been developer RED's. The architecture is identical to what they have proposed for Eagle. The four-story buildings were shading the walking areas of the streets (which is great in the desert), and the streets were virtually empty.
The developer tried to sell the condos and then took them all off the market and rented them to recover some of the losses.
I spoke with two clerks in two beautiful stores, Talbots and Coldwater Creek. (There was only one other mod store left and several popular restaurants.) The Nordstrom's had moved out after only six months of being open, and six other stores went with them.
I was the only person in each store, and when I mentioned the lack of people, they both commented that after lunch, some people usually came in. Not a sustainable situation. The clerks were leery of their jobs and their stores closing, as well. This is in an area of more than 3 million people.
I urge all voters to vote “no” on ERS. There is too much uncertainty in the economy, and those folks who think they are going to get a job in the development are going to starve before RED even digs the first hole. That is clearly the developer's time frame. Three to six years is a long time to be without a job.
Suzie Shepard, Eagle
