And here, I was afraid it would look like a suburban "lifestyle center".

This isn't a bad concept. But bear in mind that it's easy to render greenery and people sitting at cafes. If I recall correctly, the renderings for Comerica Park didn't look too different, and we all know how the reality of that "vision" turned out.

If I may offer comment:

1. The greenery at the bottom of the "plan" rendering looks like a divider wall.

2. Ilitch owns about 40 blocks of property in this area, right? The arena will cover two of these forty. Do we realistically expect the remainder of 38 city blocks to be covered with stores and apartments and offices [[all of which look identical to the same suburban schlock architecture you can find anywhere else in America)? I can't believe no one noticed the enormous surface parking lots at the periphery of the development--how is this in any way "urban"?

3. Let's not heap too much praise on Mr. Ilitch for "redeveloping" the area. It was he, after all, who created the existing moonscape.

4. Oh, but wait. There's a giant Winged Wheel on the roof of the arena, so, YAY!