.Just When You Think You Own Your Own Private Property

Notes From The Field   By Simon Black

August 20, 2019   San Juan, Puerto Rico

Just When You Think You Own Your Own Private Property. .

The year was 1967. Ronald Reagan had just become governor of California. Aretha Franklin was belting out R-E-S-P-E-C-T on the radio. Marxist revolutionary leader Che Guevara was captured and executed in Bolivia.

And a restaurant chain called The White Spot opened its newest location in Denver, Colorado.

It was a popular diner; the White Spot served pancakes and milkshakes to customers for decades, and ownership of the Denver location eventually changed hands when an entrepreneur named Tom Messina bought the diner in 1999.

He changed the name from the White Spot to Tom’s Diner, and he’s been serving Denver customers for the last 20 years.

But Tom turned 60 recently, and he’s thinking about retirement. After two decades of cracking eggs and frying bacon, he’s ready to spend more time with his family.

And fortunately for Tom, he’s sitting on an extremely valuable asset: his real estate. Tom’s diner is located in downtown Denver in an area that has been heavily redeveloped.

Decades ago the land wasn’t worth very much. But in recent years, Denver became one of the fastest growing cities in the country. Property prices skyrocketed.

In fact, a local real estate developer offered Tom nearly $5 million for his land; it’s an ideal spot to build condominiums given how popular downtown Denver has become.

$5 million is a good chunk of money for anyone, and certainly more than enough for Tom to retire comfortably.

And that’s when a handful of whiny activists stepped and stomped all over Tom’s retirement dream.

After hearing about the deal, five local residents filed an application with the city to have Tom’s Diner declared a historic landmark.

And, if granted, historic status would mean that the diner would be frozen in time forever… and could not be demolished or redeveloped into condos.

Historic status would effectively render Tom’s land completely worthless; no real estate developer would ever pay him top dollar for land that couldn’t be redeveloped.

And that’s tantamount to theft-- the city, and a handful of idiotic activists-- stealing nearly $5 million worth of value.

This is pretty remarkable when you think about it.

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https://www.sovereignman.com/trends/just-when-you-think-you-own-your-own-private-property-25477/