Do people want a garage inside a garage? I’m not sure, but luckily, people will get to decide if this project succeeds instead of the government.
Developer Brian Hayden is creating private, suburban-style garages within a larger parking garage. The outer ring of his building will be Gallery Villas, and residents here will have their own private garage structure just like the ones attached to houses in the ‘burbs. When you open the garage door, you’ll be in a large parking garage for residents and businesses of other buildings.
The project is novel and a little unconventional, but is it a good one? Time will tell, but the good news is Hayden is willing to submit his ideas to the free market for approval. Hayden is not using tax abatements, tax credits, or other public financing methods to prop up his development. Rather, he’s relying on private investors and consumer demand for these private garages. Hayden is quoted as saying “I believe a project should fully financially support itself,” and I agree.
In the free market, a developer relies on people to decide if a project succeeds or fails—either people like the idea of a garage inside a garage and put money toward it (investing or buying the product) or they don’t. It’s as simple as that. Unfortunately, many developers don’t just submit their project to the free market. They seek money from the government to finance their projects, allowing bureaucrats to decide if an idea is good or bad. The boost from government dollars means developers don’t have to work as hard to convince investors and consumers that their project is worthwhile. As my colleague Patrick Tuohey has asked before, “If private investors won’t invest their own money, why should taxpayers invest theirs?”
When risk-takers, like Hayden, offer up their good (and bad) ideas to the free market, we get to use our hard-earned money to decide on the ideas that we like. Isn’t that better than having bureaucrats spend our money on ideas they like? I applaud Hayden for taking a risk with his innovative garage project and leaving it up to consumer to decide if it will succeed.
