Quote:
Originally Posted by Crawford
Southfield doesn't really share any similarities with Downtown Detroit. They're totally different environments.
|
Yea, Southfield actually has a stable residential population around its town center, with a higher median income, and a functioning government.
Quote:
Troy is much richer and more successful than Southfield, and Troy has tons of very desirable retail space, all along a single corridor.
Yet, even in Troy, there's no semblance of a "new downtown". It's the same old sprawl, but with some new sidewalks and decorative pavers. Of course the sidewalks are devoid of pedestrians, because you cannot turn postwar suburbia into something pedestrian friendly.
|
Troy is richer, but not sure what you mean by successful. The vacancy rates in Troy are just as high as Southfield. Plus that retail is desirable only because of the office parks that are directly adjacent. Otherwise it'd just be another corridor of strip malls. The only difference is that Southfield's retail is all along Telegraph and Northwestern Highway
away from where most of the office parks are. In that sense, Southfield hasn't really capitalized on its commuter population like Troy has. But really that's not a very hard adjustment to make if planned correctly.