[Michi]

Yah South University Village was a real disappointment. The developer was from Chicago and was SO excited to build a presence in Detroit. They wanted to bring a piece of "Chicago" to Midtown Detroit.

The reason WSU dropped the ball was because they thought occupancy numbers were too risky.

I sat through a presentation by the developer and what impressed me most was his selling of "eyes on the street" type of development...meaning zero-setbacks, no parking garage presence, retail, residential, commercial, garden space, etc...

This is something I believe Midtown is severly lacking which is why there's so many car thefts, break-ins, and other petty crimes that are nonsense. To build housing is only one fraction of the total pie. To build a quality environment in which to live makes up the bulk of the rest. And like I said, we could really use some of what that developer from Chicago was advocating here because evidently, we don't really know how to do it.