Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Now you see it ...

Now you don't.
This place had been empty for a long time, purchased by builders right before everything went south in the housing market. I met the next-door neighbor months ago when he was walking by my house. He told me about how frustrating it was to have the place sitting empty and falling apart, and knowing that it would probably be replaced with a hulking behemoth that would block all his light (and hence raise his winter heating bills).

I ran into him again when I was taking photos of the house, including this (click to see it larger):
He'd had to call the city because workers stripping the place would leave the doors wide open and then disappear for days. "All I need is a meth lab in there," he said.

I guess whoever owns the place now got the hint. But I suspect they don't have the funds to do more than scrape it.

8 comments:

  1. I feel very lucky to live in a neighborhood where tear downs are not an option. It would kill me to see something that represents the existing the neighborhood pulled down and replaced with something large and out-of-place. And having a derelict house in the meantime would also make me crazed.

    ReplyDelete
  2. We are in a similar situation with an incomplete (just plywood framing)home across the street from our house. It is secure but has sustained no work for over 6 months. The imcomplete home (in Denver's Bonnie Brae neighborhood) has been for sale for ages with no takers. I would imagine that any buyer now would have to tear it down and start from scratch since the wood had been exposed to the elements the entire time. So frustrating.

    ReplyDelete
  3. it's sad to see this happening all around the country, and the current economic downturn will just create more such hollowed out homes.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Julie, it really irks me, too. I'm kind of glad some of the speculative building is slowing down now.

    Wow, Josephine, that's bad. An eyesore and probably attractive to pests both animal and human. This place is not far from you.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Bee, yes, it's not good, though I suspect the scrape-offs will slow a bit because of the hard times.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I'm sure this is only my issue, but it bothers me that you posted someone else's address on the internet, without obtaining their permission. I find it tacky, and tasteless, and you seem anything but. Why would you do this? What do you have to gain from this? Why do you feel that the rest of the world should have free access to this information? Could you not at least have blurred out their address? I can't begin to understand why you felt the addition of this information added to your post, or your blog as a whole. Surely you would be bothered if your private information (no, not the things you freely post on your site), even private legal dealings were posted on someone else's site without your permission, for no other purpose, apparently, but malice or humiliation. This was tacky, madam, and seems beneath you. Then again, I only know what you post on your site, so it may not be. Good day. I won't be back.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi anonymous. I'm glad you left a comment. My sincere apologies. It hadn't even occurred to me, and it should have. If it's any consolation, most of the readers of the this blog are not from Denver and have no more than an abstract interest in what gets posted here. But I've blanked out the address and will remember to be more circumspect with other people's information in the future.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I should add that I'm removing the address for the neighbor's sake, not the irresponsible landowner's. It is a public notice.

    ReplyDelete