We built the nice things for the rich people

Nothing to do now but find some rich people to sell them to.

Multifamily development isn't exclusive to downtown, either. Look to the Edwards Communities apartment complexes going up in Mid-City or the Parkway Apartments taking shape near Xavier University.

However, it's the downtown luxury condos (and their prices) that raise brows. Who's buying them?

Talbot said out-of-towners looking for a second home have always driven the downtown condo market. They're more likely to be wealthy people from Mississippi and elsewhere in the South than well-heeled buyers from the East or West Coast, he said. New Orleans Saints fans who live elsewhere in Louisiana, but have money to spend, have scooped up downtown properties for years.

"There are a lot of people who want a place here, but don't necessarily want to live here full-time," Talbot said.

I'm so old now I can remember when it was very important that we built dense high rises on high ground (and heavily subsidized it with tax credits and PILOTs and so forth) because that was the way to re-build the resilient city we always wanted to be with sustainable affordable housing and what not.  But that was a long time ago. Also it was a lie. Some of us are even old enough to have said so at the time.