This reminds of the time my friends went to NYC and stayed at Hotel LeBlue in Brooklyn a few years ago. It is very nice boutique hotel, but it is literally a block from the notorious cesspool Gowanus Canal. My friends could barely stand staying there because the sewage/poop smell was so strong in their room. And the neighborhood itself was kinda rough, although not as desolate as this area. The key was the developers knew the area was eventually going to gentrify, which it is now, and they are being rewarded by being "first" in the neighborhood.

Maybe they are banking on this scenario?