Originally Posted by
Gsgeorge
It looks maybe five times better. But I wish them the best of luck with the space. Trader Joe's will not move in there, but maybe a local grocery owner will take it. I am interested in the shops that will set up shop there. The design is terrible, not to mention a bit cramped--I can't see it filled with bustling patrons like the good old times, as the historic photos on the wall remind us.
There is an abundance of parking around the Shops. There is absolutely no reason for free parking because all of the Woodward-plan core downtown is a pay-for-parking area. They could offer validations but it would be an added expense not expected when you are relying on foot traffic and local residents and workers, who might have already parked elsewhere downtown and traveled on foot during the day. Let's be straight--though Detroit and Michigan have had a shameful and not-so-imaginitive direction in urban planning over the last 50 years, I think everyone today realizes that this area is veritably downtown and a suburban-style development, with free parking out front in a surface lot, is not possible or necessary. Not to change the subject-but I do fear the Tiger Stadium site will be home to a big-box suburban development because it is outside the CBD, and large...It would be another deadly blow to the fabric and sustainability of the downtown area.
"Dionysia" aka Kellifanos has done a good thing bringing the shops downtown and opening another vacant building. It is another small but important contribution to the livability in the CDB.