21 new towers going up in Miami | Hacker News Reader

21 new towers going up in Miami

twitter.com

18 pointssteelstraw16 comments

This is something I wonder about often as well. Why are all these coastal cities constantly being pumped full of money in the form of new building and real estate ventures when the forecasts show how risky of a long term investment it is? Sure, you can gain some short term profits, but these investments are being made by large banks with access to data on what these investments will look like _over decades_.

Are people just planning on sea walls, dikes, and other mega projects to deal with shifting coastlines? I can understand it for certain financially entrenched areas like New York City, but still... we're talking 10s - 100's of Billions in infrastructure to preserve these cities.

The cities themselves have an existential threat, one which they _have_ to throw money at to solve. It's the outside investors who _also_ throw money at these areas with the knowledge that _their_ investment requires these mega projects to pan out when there are other less risky investments that I find so mind boggling.

Probably the same reason so many politicians and wealthy tech entrepreneurs (e.g. Zuckerberg) are buying waterfront property. Sea level rise is a lot of hype and not a lot of substance. If it were such a big deal all the coastal cities in the US would have already been wiped out every time there was a windy day and 1-3ft sea swells.

Perhaps a useful narrative to reduce competition for coastal real estate.

> Are people just planning on sea walls, dikes, and other mega projects to deal with shifting coastlines?

Yes. Miami is actively planning for higher sea levels and funding that adaptation with new development.

Same with Boston. If not actually planning, then at least discussing.

because if you are developer corporation you don't care. You build where people and money currently are. Once you build it and sell it it's somebody else problem.

Counterpoint: If you're a developer and your projects are uninsurable, that is your problem. You're not going to be a developer for very long if that's the case.

And apparently it's not the case.

sure, my point is, developers build where money and people are now. They don't care, like most corporations don't care what will happen in 50 years time.

How do you look at Miami, the most vulnerable city in America to climate Change maybe in a tie with Tucson, and decide it's somewhere you want to make a 50 year investment?

Maybe they have done their research and I understand something I don't but I don't get it.

A fifty-year building doesn't have to be a fifty-year investment. If you can build something for $1m and sign contracts that guarantee you $400k in rent in the next five years, and you think there's an very good chance that you'll be able to sell for >$600k, then building makes sense.

This is the case for a building where I know a tenant, except that I changed the sums.

Yeah they probably have done a ton of research. I look at the Surfside collapse and think, "nope, not buying in Miami."

As the author himself argues, in another tweet, and with unassailable logic:

You may not be aware of this, but housing isn't what's causing sea levels to rise.

oh, yeah, makes sense now.

In the short term, by 2040, sea level is projected to rise 10 to 17 inches above 2000 mean sea level.

Medium term, by 2070, sea level is projected to rise 21 to 54 inches above 2000 mean sea level.

Long term, by 2120, sea level is projected to rise 40 to 136 inches above 2000 mean sea level.

https://southeastfloridaclimatecompact.org/announcements/the...

Ah Miami. A very special place, for "very special" people (if you've lived there you know what I mean).

r u referring to porn industry?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com