Downtown Orlando Building

[Tim Haley]

There is a 4 story building in the middle of downtown Orlando that will be up for sale in the very near future. Asking price is 4.2 million and it's 42 thousand square feet. The owner thinks whoever buys it should tear it down and put high rise condo's. I advised him against it because its old building with a lot of history to the city. The question I'm asking is do you ever feel that the money you could make is not worth changing an area's heritage or history.

[Jon Holdman]

IMHO, if non-owners want to control what is done with a property they need to buy it. If the new buyers want to knock it down and building something different, and that's in conformance with planning, zoning, and building codes, they should be free to do it. If someone feels it should be preserved as a historical landmark, they should buy it and do that. If the owner is willing to accept a lower price in exchange for imposing such a restriction on the buyer, he's free to do that. I don't think he's under any obligation to make such a donation to the "area's heritage or history".