Who should be in the business of building?

The Orlando Sentinel reports (3/26/07):
"Tower Realty Services is converting the Reedy Creek Inn on U.S. Highway 192 near Walt Disney World into a
condo complex called The Courtyards at Reedy Creek. The 360-room hotel will be transformed into 180 one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments priced from $179,000 to about $300,000. The conversion should be
complete by August. The developers are pitching the project to Osceola County school district and government workers."


Comments:
1. If the private sector is going to produce housing targeted at the government and education market, do local government bodies really need to be trying to enter that business?

2. Is there a chance that any local government body could turn a project as quickly as a private developer could (announce in March, complete by August)?

3. If the price of the units is still too high, wouldn't there be much less risk to local agencies to help the
developer with grants to "buy down" some of the costs of the project, reducing the cost of the units, rather than trying to develop and manage their own units?