Originally Posted by
Jason
With the extra critical mass of the full Ren Cen development, it's not hard to imagine the Ren Cen today being a proper urban mall.
The temporary SEMTA commuter rail station could have been permanently built and connected to the Ren Cen. The reconstructed tunnel plaza [[although these are early models, the final drawings of the full version don't incorporate the tunnel) could have been done in such a way to make the tunnel bus more pleasant and more popular. The People Mover did get built. The streamlined road network could have been used to make a bus depot. Even without SEMTA's light rail [[that would have had a station on Jefferson in front of the Ren Cen), it would have been a transit hub.
I don't know what happened to make the plans fall apart. I'm not aware of any detailed written history. The residential portion WAS built, just in the form of Riverfront Towers [[Alfred Taubman and Max Fisher). 500 and 600 were built right after, and parking was built, but not in the form of the original podium.
I'd still like to someday see the parking garages demolished, and the Ren Cen extended, using the extensions to integrate better with Hart Plaza and Rivertown.