There’s nothing like a big ugly hole in the ground to make real the looming catastrophe that exists in the U.S. commercial real estate market. I came across this extraordinary piece of video, produced by the Huffington Post, on YouTube last night. It features Jeff Neal, a developer in Washington, D.C. who has multiple projects on-hold in and around the city.

We were on a credit binge,” he told journalists Christine Spolar and Lagan Sebert. “We were drunk.”

Neal’s remarkable candor and the shocking visuals he toured the Huffington Post Investigative Fund crew around, make this one of the most honest pieces of journalism I’ve seen since the downturn started. I hope you enjoy it too.

The U.S. commercial real estate market’s troubles have been widely reported. It is considered by some to be one of a couple of significant risks that could derail the economic recovery in that country. I heard futurist Richard Worzel repeat this warning at a talk in Toronto yesterday. As Malcolm Musgrove, vice-president and portfolio manager, real estate at Aurion Capital Management Inc. told me earlier this year, it could have a profoundly negative impact on the Canadian economy too.

“I was sad about it a year ago,” Neal told the Huffington Post. “I’m over it. Move on.”

Let’s hope he can.