Ghost town subdivisions

anybody ever been to Lehigh acres, fl? I used to live there (87-90) and still have freinds there, it hasnt changed much, and theres miles and miles of empty neighborhoods with paved roads, streetsigns, etc... most of the area 1/4 mile or more off the main road, are ghost neighborhoods.. I used to use as my own private testing grounds, probably still could... http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&q=Lehigh+Acres,+Florida&sll=33.845471,-84.585376&sspn=0.000938,0.001727&gl=us&ie=UTF8&cd=1&geocode=FTLulQEd4mQi-w&split=0&ll=26.621987,-81.605072&spn=0.129215,0.2211&t=h&z=12&iwloc=A

DILYSI Dave wrote: I don't get the cul-de-sac hate. I like not living on a through street. Keeps traffic way down.

Just till you're a person like me who has to drive a dumptruck and 30 ft. trailer into your sac to do a job. After a grueling day of work, I've chewed up more than a few yards after having to navigate around the tard homeowners boxing me in.

PHeller wrote: Some of the highest valued homes in urban areas are the places that manage to be connected to everything, yet on the single street in the middle of a metropolis, it is quiet and for the most part "secluded" from the rest of the city. The street is connected to major arterial roads, it's a two way street, but because of surrounding neighborhoods, those few houses get a very rare setting. These situations are hard to mimic because because it isn't always quantifiable WHY the high class urban alley even exists.

I think the "high class urban alley" exists because of what you mentioned: seclusion with connection to everything. I used to rent a house in a neighborhood that was like that. This one street a block away from where I was has a bunch of great homes. At one end of the street is a park, past the park is the state line (and a road of the same name). On the other end of the road is one of the major north/south thoroughfares. A short walk to the north of this neighborhood is a very fashionable shopping, dining, and entertainment district.

While there isn't a highway close by, that major north/south road merges onto a traffic way with no left turns permitted. That traffic way spills out onto the interstate. It's easy and ridiculously fast.

I think that's why that street continues to grow in value at a higher rate than even houses on the block where I lived. It's got the right location, despite being in an notoriously bad school district.

924guy wrote: anybody ever been to Lehigh acres, fl?

OMFG! And Google Maps even streetviewed all of that empty scrub and half-built road!

slefain wrote: I'm fascinated by all the "ghost town" subdivisions around Atlanta... built for all the suckers who think Mableton/Smyrna = Vinings.

I'm laughing because I work with a few of those people ;)

There are a few unfinished developments in East Cobb, I haven't seen anything on the scale of what you posted.

There are a bunch of those developments around me, and I have to wonder, if they failed then why doesn't someone have to go in and put the freakin trees back where they were?!? I hate seeing all these barren strip mines that were going to be neighborhoods. And the houses have dropped from $500,000 to $480,000. Really? Why are you not broke and selling it to me for $100,000?

nderwater wrote:

slefain wrote: I'm fascinated by all the "ghost town" subdivisions around Atlanta... built for all the suckers who think Mableton/Smyrna = Vinings.

I'm laughing because I work with a few of those people ;) There are a few unfinished developments in East Cobb, I haven't seen anything on the scale of what you posted.

Call it Sminings. They hate that.

924guy wrote: anybody ever been to Lehigh acres, fl?

Holy Crap! From wikipedia...

152,000 quarter acre (1,000 m²) and half-acre (2,000 m²) lots for housing, along over a thousand miles of roads. In 1997, nearly 90% of Lehigh Acres' lots remained vacant. A surge in housing prices led to a boom in Lehigh Acres ... peaking at more than 6,000 new homes constructed in 2006. The number of homes built during this period exceeded the total number of homes constructed during the preceding 50 years.

DILYSI Dave wrote:

nderwater wrote:

slefain wrote: I'm fascinated by all the "ghost town" subdivisions around Atlanta... built for all the suckers who think Mableton/Smyrna = Vinings.

I'm laughing because I work with a few of those people ;) There are a few unfinished developments in East Cobb, I haven't seen anything on the scale of what you posted.

Call it Sminings. They hate that.

Call it Smyrna, that really ticks them off.

My folks live in Vinings, like real Vinings, near the RR tracks, in the shadow of the Vinings club. That whole discussion is hilarrious.

I live at a "T" intersection, right at the top of the T. 5 years ago a drunk came whipping up the street, wound up in the kitchen. 20 years ago, different area, same type of location, same thing happened, but no penetration into the house. Good thing, as he hit my bedroom wall. Hard. Moron driver actually asked me not to call the cops. We had a rather animated discussion rolling around in my front yard. Unfortuately the cops got there before we were done. I think a cul de sac might be a bit safer.

Mental wrote: My folks live in Vinings, like real Vinings, near the RR tracks, in the shadow of the Vinings club. That whole discussion is hilarrious.

I enjoy pointing out to people where they ACTUALLY live. I don't care what your realtor told you, unless you're down in the hole by the RR track, you don't live in Vinings. If you have to drive to Orient Express to eat sushi, you don't live in Vinings. I'm sorry, but no matter what your subdivision is called, it is off Cooper Lake Road and therefore not now or ever will be Vinings. Atlanta Road is right out. If you are outside 285, it's not Vinings.

There was rumor for a little while about actually incorporating Vinings as a city with defined boundaries. The DEVELOPERS shot it down because they knew they'd be doomed and the suckers wouldn't keep buying.

my grandparents used to live near the end of a street that was about an 1/8th mile of straight from the stop sign to where it intersected another, larger street. at the end of the street, it curved about 45 degrees to the left, and then had a stop light. the next door neighbors to my grandparents had to sink concrete and steel posts into their front yard to keep the idiots out of the house when they came blasting down the street (usually drunk, too) and didn't realize they would need to turn or stop as soon as they did. the last one i heard of was a 17 year old kid in daddy's truck coming from his buddy's place where they'd been drinking. he managed to thread through two of the posts and plowed right into their oak tree. tree 1, truck 0. i think he tried to get them to not call the cops, too.