Puzzling teardown
A couple blocks from here is a successful urban farm. I don't know if they're making lots of money, but they've been growing excellent crops and chickens, and they're hard-working and tenacious.

Today the main house is being carefully demolished, which doesn't make sense from the outside. The main house was old but looked solid; no obvious roof problems or sags. Three non-solid structures on the property are not being demolished: a garage converted to a cottage, a cottage converted to a chicken coop, and a chicken coop converted to a storage shed. The teardown is also carefully avoiding fences and crop areas.

Maybe it's more of a flip than a teardown? Getting ready to build a better house on the same foundation? Or a garage? That would close the circle on the conversions!

5/15 update: They're building a new house, about the same size as the original but with a different floor plan. Oddly, the new build is starting with a crawl space instead of a basement. Bad allocation of resources. Basements are the truly Green choice for all sorts of reasons.

The builder is Pura Vida, advertised as a 'green' builder. La Vida may be Pura, but los metodos de construcción are just as impura y completamente mechanizado as any other el buildero. Los sawos electricos, los Robertogato Excavadores, los hammeros del Ingersollo Rando, etc.

5/28 update: Green building seems to mean mucho styrofoamo. El styrofoamo es everywhero. This is infinitely superior to el asbesto, because el styrofoamo burns and melts at a passive-solar low temperaturo, releasing lots of Green el vaporo that makes you holistically healthy for a few seconds until you're holistically el deado. By contrast, el asbesto never burns or melts or emits el vaporo. It protects other materials from el fireo, which is UNACCEPTABLO INTOLERABLO TODOS OPTIONOS SUR EL TABLO. Only total vulnerability is Greeno.
  ¶ 9:00 AM