Originally Posted by
ghettopalmetto
While The Grove looks better than most of these new Potemkin villages popping up all over the country, there are quite a few significant negatives about it.
1. 600,000 sf is a LOT of retail space. It is, in effect, a regional shopping mall. I don't care how many cheaply-built, over-priced apartments you put above the stores: a few hundred tenants can't support that much retail.
2. Since all the property is owned by one entity, including the "streets", that means there is, legally, no public space in such a development. The landlord can make rules as he sees fit. That means teenagers, people wearing the "wrong" clothes, Shakey Jakes, hippie drum circles--you have to leave. You don't like it, tough shit. Your "town center" has been sold to the highest bidder.
3. Product mix. Despite the faux-traditional building forms, same developer = same product mix. Same bullshit you can find in any Schaumburg.
4. Uniform architecture. By having a single owner, all the buildings are designed by the same architect and look, well, the same. This is uninteresting. We've become incredibly talented at adopting Soviet design principles.
5. Going back to #2, these types of Potemkin villages RARELY include any sort of public buildings or other civic infrastructure. Why build space for a library when you can lease it to Bar Louie?