Quote Originally Posted by bust View Post
It's disappointing this isn't immediately happening, but not because I think it should. What's disappointing is how the local, national, even global economy has changed.

Developers act responsibly when they respond to market conditions -- both for their investment and for the city. They act irresponsibly when they overbuild and/or design for conditions that no longer apply.

Real estate developments exist within an ecosystem. They affect that ecosystem, but only so much.

I hope the time comes soon for a great development that makes a huge positive impact on its environs with an appropriate design for its time.

As far as the difficulty getting things done in Detroit because of bureaucracy/ political interference, I'm sure that's true compared to Troy and Wichita, but I doubt that's true compared with most of the biggest cities in the US. Not an excuse for it. But it cannot be even close to the main reason for delay.
For now I think we should just be thrilled Gilbert decided to continue the Hudson Site at it's current scale. It wouldn't have been too late to scale way back or pull the plug altogether if he chose.