Forest City Cancels downtown project

[The Voice of Reason]

The biggest development Fresno has had on the books for a long long time dies a week or so ago.

its kind of a shame, but also I thought that it had been scaled down too much for a center city area. Density should always be higher in a central city and developers need to be reminded of this.

http://www.fresnobee.com/local/story/1261086.html

Forest City Enterprises on Friday abandoned the proposed South Stadium Project, a $300 million mix of housing and commercial businesses in downtown Fresno.

The company had exclusive development rights to 85 acres south of Chukchansi Park since 2004, but was unable to raise the last $100 million it needed, said Kevin Ratner, president of Forest City Residential West.

"After considerable analysis and collaboration with the Fresno Redevelopment Agency, it has become clear that the financial gap is simply too great to develop a high-density, mixed-use project at this time," Ratner said in a statement.

And a collection of past articles and blurbs about the project.

http://www.nolandgrab.org/archives/2007/09...city_in_10.html

http://www.fresno.gov/News/PressReleases/2...CityProject.htm

http://california.construction.com/news/development/

Forest City's 85-acre South Stadium project will involve a 12-block outdoor shopping district that will include not only 690,000 sq. ft. in new retail and a cinema, but also about 500 housing units, including apartments and townhouses.