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Is there a road to profit or do you need to be a prophet of a new road?

Mixing elements of daily life in a real estate development can take different forms. The term "mixed-use" maybe over simplified to the definition that people (developers, brokers, tenants, public) only see them as today. The creativity is in the mix not just in the categories of product but also in the services, the environments and the glimpse of what has not been combined before. Similar to a movie producer, a developer needs to combine multiple elements around a concept, a script and a diverse set of answers to questions such as "who is our audience?" and "how will we make money?" But maybe the more primary question is "what do people want?" before it all can be known.

The current mixed use understanding thus far has had only, for the most part, been a retail, residential and office combination and the jury is still out on their success. Still, the unique and ultimately successful combination may yet to be discovered. As sense of place and a "brandable" experience still is defined by the audience.

Has the audience been given the proper outlet to ask for what they want? Or, as movie makers , do we need to produce it to see if they will gravitate toward our ideas?

Can mixed-use be about creating a mix of natural elements with man made environments that compel people to spend time and money to be "in" the experience?

What about a blending services of daily life to combine a collection of services that "brand" the facility that houses them?

Maybe all this is over thinking and we exist to simply work, eat, sleep and sometimes play so its best to keep most of them compartmentalized and separate? Or maybe we just need to use our ever increasing free time to watch less TV (Time Magazine)?

posted by adam commercial @ 1:02 PM