"The trouble with developers is they don't want to put these resilience measures into a house because as soon as anyone walks in, they say 'oh, is this area prone to flooding'?" said Parish.
On the other hand, low prices spell trouble for developers that over-invested during the stimulus binge of 2009 and 2010 — often into office blocks and retail spaces in smaller cities such as Urumqi, Guiyang or Ordos, where China's overall growth is perhaps not yet generating the demand needed to fill the space.
In response, troubled condominium developers either repositioned the projects as rentals or sold the properties to investors who converted them into rentals.
But the earlier visions fell victim to economic troubles or developers who pulled out, leaving one of the largest undeveloped urban oceanfront lots in the nation empty since the 1960's, when Mayor John V. Lindsay ordered the demolition of the remaining summer cottages there.
Facebook has had its own troubles with developers, pulling the rug out from some game companies when it shut down spammy viral channels in 2009.
[Associated Press via WNYC] After his plan to transform the old Domino Sugar Factory in Williamsburg into residential towers was waylaid by his partner's financial troubles, a developer now says he recruited an anonymous investor who can save the project.
In one purchase it would become the dominant landlord on the city's downtown skyline and end the long run of MPG, the region's best-known but recently troubled office developer.
The Detroit car companies are having trouble attracting software developers and information technology experts from places like Silicon Valley.
Bullseyehub, a Web site that helps event organizers promote their shows online, had trouble finding qualified developers and engineers in London as it grew from five people to a team of 28 in less than a year.
The apartments were planned with a skill and élan that other developers had trouble matching even decades later.
