[geraldwhen]

Most office complexes have parking lots larger than buildings. People are smaller than cars, commute one person to car, and buildings are often multi story where parking is not.

Hence campuses that are 85% parking lot.

[mschuster91]

> Hence campuses that are 85% parking lot.

Yeah and that is nuts. We lose ridiculous amounts of valuable land for barely any productive use - every day Germany loses 39 ha for buildings and 8 ha for transportation infrastructure [1], which means streets and parking lots.

Loss of land is an externality that doesn't get priced in anywhere.

[1] https://www.umweltbundesamt.de/themen/boden-flaeche/bodenbel...

[InvaderFizz]

Loss of land does get priced in as prices rise with a lower supply and higher demand. It just takes a while to really feel it.

[bee_rider]

I mean, they have to buy the land for the parking lot, so it does get priced in.

But we should also have a Land Value Tax to push people toward using it more productively.

[vel0city]

The Land Value Tax on that site would still have been incredibly low and probably still justify paving a parking lot. It is a toxic superfund site way out in the boonies. You're not going to develop some kind of dense mixed use town center in that space anytime soon.