Reply to How did such beautiful infrastructure get built from 1900-1950?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Profit margins have greatly expanded at the expense of wages, cost of materials, etc. Land cost was a much smaller percentage of the building cost back in 1900. In other words, all the efficiency gains in real estate are going to capital.

A "ho hum" building back then was built of steel, brick, masonry, and took many skilled craftsmen to custom design and create every ornamental feature.

Now? Land is expensive and developers want to build as cheap as possible. As much as possible is mass produced and standardized offsite. Buildings now are also much less maintenance intensive compared to the gorgeous buildings of 1900.

Capital demands its outsized returns.[/quote]

Interesting. What about, for example, the disgusting Penn Station in NYC. It's something The Times has written about needing to be replaced for years. So, no real estate transaction necessary, as it would be built on same space. But it's never gone anywhere. It's just impossible to get anything impressive built. Everyone seems to just kick the can down the street, running the clock out until retirement.[/quote]

The plan is to build it in the old Post Office there, which is not going to be that easy, I think.   At least one transit expert thinks it is over designed.   [/quote]

Who is the transit expert? [/quote]

Alon Levy.

https://pedestrianobservations.wordpress.com/?s=penn+station[/quote]

Thank you. I'll review.[/quote]

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