Quote Originally Posted by Detroitnerd View Post
These are all terrible ideas. You want to take an area that has staggering vacancy rates and add acres and acres of Class A commercial space? With lots of free parking? No wonder this city keeps on sucking.
It's not about adding more commercial space, it's about adding big city amenities. You have to build stuff for people to do so that they will come. Do you think the Miracle Mile in Chicago or 5th Ave in New York, or dozens of other examples of urban shopping districts are all terrible ideas? A development like this isn't going to rely exclusively on the patronage of regional residents like suburban malls. It will draw in tourists, game-goers, convention-goers, show-goers, business travelers and Windsorites. While I'd love to see some high-end stores open on Woodward, those commercial spaces are not going make good sense for large chain retailers, but rather will accommodate smaller boutiques. Lower Woodward will most likely develop into coffee shops, cafes, bars and restaurants, and little shops with lofts above. Macy's needs a larger space where it can be flanked by other destination stores. People want concentrated shopping, and when you build it into a walkable urban area, I think it is especially appealing. People will go there just to say they went there and bought a T-Shirt from "____ Store Detroit."