The retailers want to be on the street now.
It's an offensive move. I'm sure they don't like having to spend $300 million, but they recognize this is a powerful market, so powerful that they can justify spending that sort of money to compete down the road.
Customers in L.A. are incredibly fickle. They're going to go where the latest, the newest, the best stuff is. The choices are so great now, the ante has been raised so high for what customers expect, if you don't keep pace, you can circle the drain incredibly fast.
It has potential within downtown to be the major shopping, entertainment and cultural district for the whole state. Most cities don't have that opportunity.
It's a constant, constant effort for existing (shopping) centers to remain competitive. The history of these big downtown malls has not been all that good.
