It's that idiotic thing of redeveloping an area for no other reason than because it can be redeveloped.
Maybe they could pour some of the money into instead adding to the Butterfly Farm (which is great but could be better).
On a related point, I like the idea of giving the RST a Thrust Stage (I've always preferred that sort of theatre) but really everything doesn't have to be all up to the minute (read "cheap and swiftly dated) in simple angles and glass.
I actually went to a concert at one of Detroit's music halls yesterday and they've done a similar thing. What was a nice old venue now resembles a upscale bar M or something. Why can't architects (and civic planners) resist the allure of tattyness?
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