Joined: Jun 03, 2005 Posts: 216 Location: New Jersey
Posted: Mon Oct 22, 2007 4:51 am Post subject: Big entertainment projects in danger
I am keeping an eye on several huge New Jersey commercial developments that I think will never make it as paying propositions given that the days of cheap travel are over. They are somewhat unusual in that they are focused mostly on entertainment - not shopping (yet!) - and they will entail a lot of overhead costs (particularly energy) but will not be able to charge a high enough price to cover them.
One is the giant Xanadu "entertainment complex" in the New Jersey Meadowlands. With the removal of some of the sports teams, the Sports Authority folks authorized a huge entertainment center - things like indoor water park, etc - aimed at families. But the project has had immense trouble getting off the ground, and I think it's doubtful that the families they need will be able to afford to enter it, when transportation is factored in. They've quietly begun switching portions of it over to shopping, but even that will simply cannabalize existing malls. One developer has already disappeared. Construction has begun, but I think it's possible it might never be completed.
The second is the Virgin Spa resort at a former Moroccan royal estate, Natirar, in Somerset County. Just yesterday the Star Ledger ran a story the lack of progress in building this resort:
Story here for the next two weeks.
In this case the county had purchased the estate primarily as open space, with the hope of leasing a corner of it to the Virgin Airlines people to develop a "luxury spa." But the numbers don't add up, and the prospect of luring the wealthy to a distant "destination spa" is receding. The wealthiest can continue to find such spas in more exotic locations, and the next slice down will balk at the cost, when the huge energy needs of such a project are figured in.
At least in the case of Natirar, the open space will be the best outcome, and is why I am watching it, so I hope the project never gets off the ground. Unfortunately, construction has already begun on Xanadu, so I expect it will stand as a silent witness to the arrival of Peak Oil.
Posted: Mon Oct 22, 2007 6:42 pm Post subject: Re: Big entertainment projects in danger
I disagree that entertainment will be the first effected. People will always need entertainment.
I do however agree that large projects will be cancelled. I'm in the digital production industry and I can see the large studios getting hit badly. They consume huge amounts of electricity for their render farms and massive storage arrays.
I can see many of these studios very quickly distributing their work amongst much smaller studios in widely distributed areas. _________________ Gravity is not a force, it is a boundary layer.
Everything is coincident.
Love: the state of suspended anticipation.
To get any appreciable distance from the Earth in
a sensible amount of time, you must lie.
Posted: Mon Oct 22, 2007 8:58 pm Post subject: Re: Big entertainment projects in danger
Entertainment\Service, I notice developments in danger in the Denver area I attribute this to the housing bubble. PO may not be so severe an impact at the moment but the housing bubble certainly is.
for those from Denver... the "Northfield Stapleton" area is what I'm referring to.
Stapleton was the old airport for Denver, before DIA was built out towards Kansas...
The area was transformed into a housing development and across the highway from it is a shopping mall area called Northfield Stapleton.
This is what I'm bitching about!!! The commercials on the radio are so farking hypnotic I can't get the bullshit out of my head while I type this!!!
So basically I hope they go under. SEVERILY!!!
The housing development is still being built and houses are being put up for sale. It's a sad state of affairs for those trying to sell the crap. The area my get more popular because it is kinda centrally located but it got developed at the wrong time and in it's vecinity are some rough neighborhoods -Martin Luther King blvd runs right next to it. and across the street is a little rough.
So basically the Northfield Stapleton shopping center has some Entertainment value as per their annoying farking commercials but I hope the bastards go under!!! and SOON! _________________ got cash?
Joined: Jun 05, 2005 Posts: 357 Location: Portland Oregon, USA
Posted: Mon Oct 22, 2007 9:41 pm Post subject: Re: Big entertainment projects in danger
I will enjoy watching these giant, energy wasting, China-product hawking, bad-food-selling projects that need to be flown-to or driven-to DIE DIE DIE. What a waste.
I'm a fiddler and play folk music in a band. My silver lining to Peak Oil is that people will be seeking more local entertainment which means I will hopefully reach a larger audience.
I know, I know, they will be unemployed and drunk, but, crap I play Irish music. The Irish have been unemployed and drunk for generations. It's a perfect match!
Posted: Tue Oct 23, 2007 1:10 am Post subject: Re: Big entertainment projects in danger
Speaking of music, IMHO, music of the day reflects the level of available energy of the day. I think after PO, on the down slope of the energy production, folk music and classical music may make a come back as we get back to our roots and rebalance the material and spiritual needs of our lives.
A lot of the rock n roll music (if you can still call it music) have a market because people have extra energy to burn and some of the loud, rude stuff serve as a vent for such extra energy. When the boom is over and we have to power down, they will go out of style, at least I hope. _________________ UFO pilot: "Captain, our calculation shows planet earth won’t survive another 50 years at this rate of consumption. Why have the humans not noticed this?" UFO Captain: "They can only see one quarter ahead of time." -JVancouver
Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2007 4:30 pm Post subject: Re: Big entertainment projects in danger
Johnvancouver wrote:
Speaking of music, IMHO, music of the day reflects the level of available energy of the day. I think after PO, on the down slope of the energy production, folk music and classical music may make a come back as we get back to our roots and rebalance the material and spiritual needs of our lives.
A lot of the rock n roll music (if you can still call it music) have a market because people have extra energy to burn and some of the loud, rude stuff serve as a vent for such extra energy. When the boom is over and we have to power down, they will go out of style, at least I hope.
Classiacal symphonies require scores of highly skilled musicians to perform. It is a luxuary left over from the era of ultra privelaged artistocratic layabouts.
There is all but no real difference between modern rock music and much folk music, infact indie rock is basicaly modern US and western folk as is RnB and Hip Hop folk music of urban America.
As for the energy to perform a decent PA and some guitars and a drum kit is all thats needed..... hell you can put on a rave with a laptop and an amp and some lighting.
And as for recorded music well they have radiostations in the most energy starved areas of africa and you get wind up radios these days, hell solar powered or wind up MP3 players at the outside and you have access to the full cannon of human recorded music.
Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2007 4:34 pm Post subject: Re: Big entertainment projects in danger
Will be funny if in the long run EuroDisney outlasts Orlando Disney, as the French one is so well served by rail, French nuclear power stations keeping its rail service running and German and Dutch tourists far more able to reach it than New Yorkers getting to Florida on $300 a barrel fuel costs by jet....
Joined: Jun 03, 2005 Posts: 216 Location: New Jersey
Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 4:48 pm Post subject: Re: Big entertainment projects in danger
XANADU WATCH 4/6/08
Rdsnt, you wrote:
Quote:
I disagree that entertainment will be the first effected. People will always need entertainment.
I do however agree that large projects will be cancelled. I'm in the digital production industry and I can see the large studios getting hit badly. They consume huge amounts of electricity for their render farms and massive storage arrays.
I can see many of these studios very quickly distributing their work amongst much smaller studios in widely distributed areas.
As I said, I'm keeping an eye on the giant Xanadu project going up in the NJ meadowlands. The latest shows Rdsnt to be prescient about one of the problems that will beset this project.
The March 31 New Jersey Star-Ledger had an update about the project:
Quote:
Xanadu will be a palace of virtual experience. Indoor skiing without the biting wind chill, air-chute sky diving without the splat! risk, bloodless hunting in the controlled climate of Cabela's, the outdoor superstore. There's Adrenelina, with simulators for X-Games like wakeboarding and surfing, and MagiQuest, where electronic wizardry lets kids become characters in their own video game.
Flowing ribbons of video streams and cavernous walls of LEDs will form a combination Niagara Falls/Grand Canyon of the digital age. In this cathedral, the art moves -- a virtual panoramic mural of pop culture. Entertain ment as religion; American pop idols and athletes as electronic gods.
It all feeds the greatest American diversion of them all: shopping.
The people behind Meadowlands Xanadu say it is more than a glorified mall. It is "a stage where brands, entertainment and technology join to create a larger- than-life experience." ("Larger- than-life": a PR phrase as empty as space.)
The project was conceived during a time of low energy costs. Electricity costs have skyrocketed since then and will continue to rise. The price Xanadu will need to charge for admittance will put it out of the price range for the New Jersey families it seeks, who will be dealing with budget-destroying gasoline costs.
It will open, but it will never stay in business. Now, how can we make sure the NJ taxpayer will not be presented with a bill.
and i had to go there today, and it was packed to the gills with people, all spending like there is no tomorrow. all staying in one of the 18 waterpark hotels that require a minimum two night stay and start at over $250 bucks a night.
by the way...it was announced on march 10th 2008
Quote:
The Xanadu retail/entertainment complex at the Meadowlands will include a Legoland Discovery Centre, developers announced today.
The 44,000-square-foot children's attraction will be a "virtual city" made out of colorful, interlocking blocks, with hands-on activities such as model building, rides, a cinema with special effects, party rooms and a cafe.
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