I have never been in there but have always been interested in this clusterfuck ever since my first SNDP. Who thought that bringing the suburbs right into downtown was a good idea? When did it open? 2001? It is basically dead now so an eight year run is probably double what a strip mall's life span is, so I guess that's good. Now Mr. Brauer says:

"Could we go back and undo our wrong turn, with the Graves 601 hotel subbing for the Shubert? After all, the underground parking is already built — and we know downtown is overbuilt. There's little doubt America must trash countless bubble-fueled developments. The best alternative is building nothing (after all, housing, office and retail markets are all overbuilt), but most sites don't lend themselves to parks. Block E does."

Yeah, it is never gonna get blowwed up and turned into a park but how great would it be to have a place to shoot up, i mean hang out, before heading to a show? Or just a break from street grids and skyscrapers.

Anyone been there?

Can anyone follow the money trail that enables these "big box" developments (suburban and urban alike) to be built?