Otherwise, you're sitting on the bench watching...

Word of mouth advertising can be very effective but if you couple that with doing some targeted advertising it will be not long before BP will be celebrating many more bench marks. 

Are you saying that people are normally down to commit their money to a big pot and not earn anything until a deal is made or are they typically getting some return on their money the minute it's committed to the pot?

Every hand you lose, no matter how much you put into the pot, has not lost you any money...yet. 

It seems like you just want to stir the pot for whatever reason.  

Outside looks like a prison, add a couple cheap potted plants near the entry to give a little happiness and pride.

You can even put your lots into the pot.

But just grow pot plants in it.

I also don't think price per square foot is a good bench mark.

Do you know for sure they were smoking pot?