Quote Originally Posted by 401don View Post
Ideally yes but things are a lot better than they were for decades. Before Peter Karmonos brought in Compuware there were virtually zero private companies downtown other than the banks, a few law firms, etc. that did business with the city. I'm pretty certain the nationwide trend back downtown vs. suburban office parks won't change in the future. Let's just hope people return to offices post-pandemic, which I think they will as long as this pandemic is a one off and not a precursor of more to come.
I think there is room to acknowledge that yes, downtown Detroit today is better than the 90s, but maybe not where it could be by now. The surface parking lots may be a symptom of a larger issue, or they could be part of the problem. I believe most of the lots that I linked are owned by the Ilitch family, though. And for that reason, I'm not convinced that these lots were doomed to becoming surface parking.