What's To Like About the Crosstown Development?

1. Multi-Use with residential: "'the design intent is to provide a pedestrian friendly center that permits apartments/condominiums and office above retail shops and on mass transit lines.'" Seeding the market and place with residents and a 24 hour life will increase the chances for real success.
   


2. An Urban design: "parking on top of retail or office buildings and buildings that are built very close to the street. The plan also features parking buildings and on-street parking, which minimizes the need to build large surface parking lots, the bane of urban planners everywhere." And bloggers here.
   


3. An Attack on Real Blight: Tax Increment Financing finds a worthy target.


4. A Crossroads Location: In between Evergreen to the North and East, Central Gardens to the South and the diverse Medical Center neighborhoods to the west.


5. The Possibility: a chance to visually, physically, socially connect a long fractured part of the city.

As laid out in the Memphis Daily News and the Commercial Appeal.

Update: in this Goner thread, the site is called the Washington Bottoms. Also in that thread, elle says " i hate the term "lifestyle center". it makes me wanna throw up in my mouth a little." I concur, then throw up. "Lifestyle center" sounds like a re-branded nursing home.