The greenway project is actually aimed not only for beautification or commercial activity on the site, but also for the revitalization of East St. Louis as a whole. The project is hoping to attract new visitors to East St. Louis and renewed settlement of people in the neighborhood. If the project succeeds in its objectives, the land prices near our site are expected to go up which will tend to reverse the declining land prices now occurring in the city. But is the location for our project justified? Firstly, we look at the demand. Is there a demand for greenway/parks near our site ? A quick look at the ERGETS map for parks suggest that the nearest park is at least 5,000 feet away, which certainly suggests positively for the location of the greenway on our site. 
 

Secondly, as we plan to include commercial activity on our greenway, its always better for any retailers to locate their commercial spaces close to other commercial activities (positive agglomeration of businesses). The ERGETS map of Land Use patterns in East St. Louis shows fair amount of commercial activity around or site which infers that it can be viable to locate commercial activity (possibly retailing) for our greenway project. 
 

Is the site developable? It is very necessary to see if our site falls under the floodpain region. If it does, it will very difficult to obtain governmental clearance for any developmental activity. We relied on the floodplain maps of East St. Louis which suggested positively that our project does not come under the floodplain zones and hence it is indeed developable for recreation/commercial activity. 
 

Our site predominantly adjoins viable housing lots. We believe that there is a greater link between declining population and devaluation of land prices. When land prices fall, there will not be new buyers unless otherwise bought by speculative real estate agents. We hope that the location of the greenway projects near potential residential sites will have a renewed demand for the adjoining land and hence help stimulate the growth of East St. Louis. Our site has dilapidated industrial buildings. Ideally, we could have located the greenway on open spaces which could have reduced the costs of clearing the land. But we do not expect any net losses as any additional expenses incurred will be set off by the sale of commercial spaces. Also we expect additional gains such as cleaner environment, improved visual quality of spaces and increased land values. Hence, locating the greenway on the industrial site is highly justifiable. Finally, we evaluated whether the greenway would be accessible to the majority of the population. The ERGETS population map of East St. Louis reveals that the site is adjoined by high population density areas which amply justifies the location of the greenway on the proposed site.