The plot directly to the left of it has been a known development void for decades - one of the truly rare full block development potential but nothing ever gets proposed to be built on it.
The landholding 'culture' of Hamilton would explain that. If people aren't developing other prime lots, then the real golden geese won't be developed either. In short, everyone's got the idea its not time to develop
their lots "yet"; the entire boom of the last 10 years has been built by mostly new players locally, and/or mostly on the periphery of the core on 'opportunistic' lots, including the Design District. Which, ironically, proves something is off closer to King and James...
I have more on this thought; I can DM anyone interested. Point is, this practice of nothing is doing the opposite of what the core's landowners theoretically want. They just sit and prevent any sort of domino effect from materializing. It makes you wonder if parking is the point, but I digress. More to my point, this all has the effect of "the better your land is, the less you should do with it" (Jackson Square is a major culprit, too, ofc).
What I will say for the dream parcel, is it isn't shackled by some vision from the city, like others might try to impose. I genuinely think the owner(s) are making hand over fist with parking, and are among those seeing downtown as the ultimate 'passive income generator'. Even if the central city still isn't at 100% health per se, it is now broadly healthier than downtown economically. And that is not
solely the fault of the city, or shelters and homeless; some of it is certainly these 'stakeholders'.
