Inner-Ring Suburbs Fight Back Against Blight

"In recent years, newer U.S. suburbs have flourished and big cities have lured business and residents back downtown. Caught in the middle are older suburbs, many in the Midwest where economic growth has been particularly slow. Their plight has attracted the interest of scholars and even earned them a name: inner-ring or first suburbs, as compared with the outer-ring suburbs or exurbs where developers can in many cases build from scratch."

"Against the odds, however, some inner-ring suburbs like Jennings (Missouri) are fighting back, often with bulldozer tactics. Jennings, for example, lured a developer who replaced a languishing 1950s-era shopping center with a new one that opened in 2006 anchored by a 126,000 square-foot Target store. In Lakewood, Colo., on Denver's western fringe, city officials faced with declining tax revenue agreed several years ago to plow under a nearly empty, 1960s-era mall known as Villa Italia. In its place: Belmar, an $850 million mixed-use town center developed by Denver-based Continuum Partners that has attracted a Whole Foods Market and an American Apparel store, among other tenants."

"Inner-ring suburbs face obstacles as they try to adapt. Older suburbs with aging populations can be particularly reluctant to tax hikes...Redevelopment projects sometimes get held up because one land owner will refuse to budge, leading older suburbs to pursue eminent domain."

But with eminent domain powers being restricted in nearly every state, inner-ring suburbs face still another obstacle in their attempts to revitalize.

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