Like many other parts of the country, there was lots of real estate development in the past few years in Bakersfield. Now, however, many developments have either been delayed or cancelled. Sadly, work had started on quite a few cancelled projects leaving sort of a ghost town feeling even though at some sites only the improvements to the property might have begun.
I drive past two cancelled sites every day going to and from home. Tumbleweeds grow next to curbs and empty lots--as an aside, I thought tumbleweeds were a Hollywood creation, boy was I wrong. They grow huge out here in Bakersfield. Commercial projects are not immune either. I see newly made or being built commercial centers, but I think to myself, "Who's going to rent it?" One center I know has been completed and sits empty for the psat three months. The only people I see there are kids skate boarding in the parking lot. Developers took the motto, "If I build it, they will come," way too much to heart without thinking about a downturn in the market.
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