Commercial Real Estate Could Be Worse…
Monday, December 29th, 2008Commercial real estate could be worse, you could be investing in Venezuela.
You could build an entire mall the size of a city block only to have the government decide that it wouldn’t be a good use of space.
President Hugo Chavez ordered construction halted on a major shopping mall in Caracas on Sunday, saying the government will expropriate the unfinished building.
The Venezuelan leader said it would be out of line with his government’s socialist vision to allow the new Sambil mall to take up precious urban real estate — and that unbridled consumerism isn’t his idea of progress either.
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“We’re going to expropriate that and turn it into a hospital — I don’t know — a school, a university,” Chavez said to applause during his Sunday television and radio program, “Hello, President.”
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“How are we going to create socialism turning over vital public spaces to Sambil?” said Chavez, who has nationalized Venezuela’s largest phone company, electric utilities and oil fields.
The Associated Press: Chavez says mall to be expropriated in Venezuela. (HT: Retail Traffic)
