Were they rentals? I thought it was an older condo complex that got hit hard by the 2013 flood, and faced significant repair costs (and thus, assessments), or had an option to sell the entire complex to make way for this new project. I might be remembering wrong though.
Is it there on purpose? If you're using a wheel chair or stroller it's in the way but otherwise if I think about walking through there as a pedestrian, it works. I'd say paint in the 5th Street Cycle track but there isn't a lot of room with the existing lane layout.traffic signal post