Quote Originally Posted by detmsp View Post
No, a downtown mall is a terrible idea. Downtown Detroit has very few residents. A mall would have to succeed by bringing people in from outside of downtown including suburban areas. Why on earth would someone from the suburbs drive to downtown and deal with parking and traffic to shop at a mall when there are plenty of malls in the burbs? For downtown retail to thrive, it has to offer something different. That could be unique shops [[ie john varvatos or really anything that isn't a chain) or just a unique environment [[for example, shopping in sommerset certainly would have a different feel than strolling through campus martius and merchants row). But a mall would not be a draw. There are plenty of failed downtown malls to serve as warnings against this.

Just in case I wasn't clear, I'm not saying downtown retail won't work, just that a mall won't work.
What would you think about something like Water Tower Place in Chicago? [[7ish floors of retail in one building?)