Harry is worried business being hindered by new arena

[JBMcB]

I understand the design, and it appears to be modeled after the Bell Center in Montreal. I hope it does drive foot traffic to the area, and Harry's business won't be affected by the bars and restaurants that will open up at the site.

What has me worried is that Columbus, OH did the same thing with the Nationwide Arena area, and my experience is that it's not bringing traffic into the immediate area. They did a nice job - there's a beautiful park, nice wide pedestrian malls, etc... We were there a couple of years ago and on a Saturday afternoon with no hockey game going on, the area was dead. Didn't seem to pick up much later, either. A few blocks north on High Street, there is a older neighborhood with more established restaurants that was packed with people.

As an aside, they did something really cool on High Street, which is basically the Woodward of Columbus. They made a huge bridge over the I-670 freeway, and built stores on top of the freeway, so the road has an uninterrupted streetscape going over the freeway.

[Wesley Mouch]

I understand the design, and it appears to be modeled after the Bell Center in Montreal. I hope it does drive foot traffic to the area, and Harry's business won't be affected by the bars and restaurants that will open up at the site.

What has me worried is that Columbus, OH did the same thing with the Nationwide Arena area, and my experience is that it's not bringing traffic into the immediate area. They did a nice job - there's a beautiful park, nice wide pedestrian malls, etc... We were there a couple of years ago and on a Saturday afternoon with no hockey game going on, the area was dead. Didn't seem to pick up much later, either. A few blocks north on High Street, there is a older neighborhood with more established restaurants that was packed with people.

As an aside, they did something really cool on High Street, which is basically the Woodward of Columbus. They made a huge bridge over the I-670 freeway, and built stores on top of the freeway, so the road has an uninterrupted streetscape going over the freeway.

Centrally-planned, approved by consultant designs usually fail when it comes to neighborhood viability. Anarchy is best. I'll pull out a libertarian creed from my friend John..... "get the hell out of my way". When the city gets involved [[with things like re-routing streets), the system will usually be gamed by those with civic power, in this case Ilitch.