- Feb 28, 2009
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Inner-city suburbs?
Enterprising homeowners are changing the landscape of ailing neighborhoods in big cities through 'blotting,' a term coined to describe homeowners taking possession of adjacent abandoned property.
By Melinda Fulmer of MSN Real Estate
Shelina Gethers, left, and her granddaughter Kaili stand in Gethers' New Orleans yard. Gethers added to her yard via a process called "blotting." Photo courtesy of Gethers
....For less than the cost of an airplane ticket, in some instances, owners can acquire lots next door to create their own oasis, complete with pools, courtyards or even orchards. Cities, meanwhile, are spared the upkeep of these properties.
"I think it's a good strategy" for our 60,000 vacant lots, says Marja Winters, deputy director ofDetroit's Planning and Development Department. "In a lot of them, there's no interest, so why not put them in the hands of citizens that are going to own it and care for it?"
- this type of side-yard expansion, once expensive and time-consuming, has taken off in recent years as cities have foreclosed on abandoned properties, putting them in a land bank to be sold to interested parties. As the price and process have improved, the number of blots has swelled by the thousands in cities such as Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland and New Orleans, as well as other parts of the Rust Belt and Northeast....
In Detroit alone, the city approved 139 of these side-lot sales last fiscal year, and 123 in just the first part of this fiscal year. The New Orleans Redevelopment Authority has signed purchase agreements for more than 1,000 properties abandoned after Hurricane Katrina, according to published reports.
As the number of blots has grown, so have concerns about the effect they will have on future growth in these shrunken cities. Is it wise to create suburban spaces just outside of downtown? Or are these cities shortchanging future growth?
As the number of blots has grown, so have concerns about the effect they will have on future growth in these shrunken cities. Is it wise to create suburban spaces just outside of downtown? Or are these cities shortchanging future growth?