Darling Walk

Sometimes it is what you do not do, the projects that you consciously let get away, that matter most. Case in point – Darling Walk. Sydney, Australia's Darling Harbour is the next generation of public/private attractions district, after Baltimore's famous Inner Harbor.

It is not surprising, then, that Jim Rouse, and his Enterprise Development Company, had a significant role in the development of the tremendously successful Darling Harbour – from the sketch masterplan of the entire district, to the development of Darling Harbourside Festival Marketplace.

In 1998, Michael McCall went to Sydney to assist Enterprise's partner, Merlin International, with the business strategy for a small, but strategically located, site underneath the freeway, on the edge of Darling Harbour closest to downtown Sydney. Michael worked with Merlin's recently hired Director of Entertainment and Leisure, Dr. Lindsay Sharp.

Lindsay's colleagues viewed the site as a "shooting fish in a barrel" type of opportunity. What Michael discovered and Lindsay soon realized, however, was not welcome news to their team members. In a complicated transaction, the land cost had effectively doubled; hence, leaving the site economically obsolete when also confined by the use of covenants with the government.