Columbia Prof: Residential Construction Will "Nose Dive"

The new director of Columbia's Graduate School of Architecture's Historic Preservation Program has interesting thoughts on how new construction will be affected by the faltering economy in today's NY Times. Based on the past, Andrew S. Dolkart thinks commercial skyscraper construction will stop and there will be more preservation, "I think new construction is going to take a nose dive — especially residential, because we’ve been so overbuilt in fringe areas of the city, and I think a lot of new residential buildings are going to have a lot of trouble." He was amazed at a luxury apartment project between Clinton Hill and Bed-Stuy, "I was thinking, even then, a couple of years ago, why would I spend a million dollars to live on the corner of Quincy and Franklin Streets, which is basically in the middle of nowhere? It’s not really in a neighborhood at all." Maybe that's why some developments are offering "price protection guarantees" to buyers (if the price drops after they buy, they get it at the lowest price)? Photo: mihow on Flickr