Odd Lots · Monday, September 28, 2026
Zach Lazzari's development strategy involves acquiring multiple buildings in a single neighborhood to build a cohesive community, rather than just individual structures. This approach, inspired by Jane Jacobs' 'The Death and Life of Great American Cities,' aims to create vibrant main streets with new restaurants and a unified vision.
“So the idea for what we're doing on Western and Melrose came mostly from reading this book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs.”
“And they are taking multiple buildings and trying to build a whole community with new restaurants and a real vision for that.”
“So if there's a street, I mean, Manhattan at this point is so expensive that it's hard to have independent businesses. But for a while, even if there were a lot of chains on one street, you could go to a side street and see something interesting.”