Brush Park, M1, whole foods, Brewster Demo and the Possible Red Wings area

[TexasT]

How does this support light rail? Wouldn't Houston be a good example of why not to build light rail?

They built a single line in Houston, ridership sucks [[lower than the current Woodward bus ridership in Detroit), so now they're considering spending even more on light rail, hoping eventually ridership doesn't suck

Oh, and downtown revitalization? Since they opened the light rail on Houston's Main Street, the Macys closed [[last major store downtown), as did a number of nearby retail outlets. I thought rail transit was supposed to revitalize downtowns?

Serious question - have you ever been to Houston? Because your description of what's going on downtown is way off.

That Macy's was old and decrepit. I lived downtown and never went there. It needs to be torn down and rebuilt. Just look at the outside of it and imagine how nice the inside was:



[[EDIT: Macy's plans to reopen in a newer, smaller store in downtown. They are going to tear this old building down, thank god. It's awful.)

Last of the retail? Hardly. They built the 560,000 square foot Houston Pavilions in the heart of downtown [[hey, right by the light rail!) in 07 or 08.





God bless em, they can't get away from the strip mall feel but it's got plenty of major retail [[Forever 21, H&M, BCBG, etc), restaurants [[including Yao Ming's restaurant and House of Blues), a trendy bowling alley [[much like Ten in Chicago), and it made to be walkable, with raised walkways from block to block. And pointing out anything regarding retail ignores the way Houston's core is split into two, with the Central Business District and the Shopping/Retail District with the Galleria; the shopping district is way too established for downtown to compete for major retailers. That's like being over near the Sears Tower in Chicago and lamenting the lack of retail in the area. Still, retail is getting better in the business district and some retailers are now returning but mostly it's going to be boutiques that can't afford the Galleria area but still have something to offer in a unique shopping experience.

As far as entertainment, there are several independent bars and restaurants that have sprung up on Main Street [[hey right by the train line!). No, they aren't "major" chains for the most part but they are pretty nice and I prefer them over the TGIF and Applebees types. Google bars in downtown and you'll see [[bars in red, train line in green, new retail center in blue circle):



Downtown actually has a nightlife. As little as 15 years ago when I'd intern downtown in high school, that place shut down at 5 pm. Now there are people hanging out well into the night.



Houston's train line could be more successful. It doesn't run through any neighborhoods except West University, which is akin to Indian Village [[and even there, it skirts the edge). Not the type of people that will take the train daily [[although I did when I rented in West U). It entirely skips Houston's Midtown. It skips Houston's 40K-student U of Houston. Despite all of that, Houston's line still averages 37K people a day. Detroit's train will service its Midtown as well as a 30K-student WSU. I think it will be better off.