Developers don't care so much about "competition" in the sense that geographic separation from nearby buildings will not necessarily drive up demand in their buildings. Hell--look at real estate in Manhattan and San Francisco. Developers care about retaining tenants who pay their rent. End of story. In order to retain those tenants, though, it helps if the surrounding environment is attractive to current and prospective tenants.
Developers only build massive parking lots because the zoning regulations REQUIRE them to do so. Do you think anyone in his right mind would voluntarily pony up millions of dollars to build space that doesn't generate any revenue?
It could take 5 or 25 years before Detroit starts seeing its parking lots "filled-in". A lot of it will depend on the economy, the lending environment, occupancy rates in existing buildings, and needless to say, what kind of zoning regulations of the City of Detroit adopts for the Woodward Corridor.
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