White Elephant!

This building, consisting of condos and retail space and located at the intersection of Bay and Kinnickinnic, has been on the market for nearly a year, and it's still mostly vacant. (Click on the image for a clearer version: Blogger's downsampling is for the birds.)
It's amazing to me that this was built: generally, a place needs to have a certain occupancy guaranteed to receive financing. I suppose if someone's putting their own money down, that requirement might be waived - but if I were the city, I'd be dubious, since an empty building degrades the neighborhood and costs money (in the form of taking up space a more useful and profitable building might otherwise have used).

There appears to be exactly one residential unit occupied in the building (and no retail spaces). Two other units seem to have furniture...but they're pretty clearly model units, not occupied by an owner. And that occupied unit is way at the back of the building...as if the residents didn't want anyone to know they live here. (Sneaky me, driving around back on the sidestreet...)

So, even with that property nearly empty, someone decided to put up another set of condos across the street. Note the prime location, directly adjacent to a railroad track, with some industrial building or other looming behind, and across from a gas station (where I was standing to take this photo) at a major intersection...

Just how close is the railroad track to this property? There you go...

Soundtrack:

The Volcano Suns "White Elephant" (yes, this is the second Volcano Suns track I've posted in the last month or so. So?)

Saturday Looks Good to Me "Empty Room"