Skip to Content
Streetsblog USA home
Streetsblog USA home
Log In
Streetsblog.net

You Can’t Attract Walkable Retail Without Walkable Housing

Some who want to live near amenities that come from having a lot of people living relatively close together, like cafes and small markets and shops, are also resistant to the type of development that makes walkable retail possible.

There's no interest in retail development in this area, after residents shot down a plan for high-density housing. Image: Streets.mn
There's no interest in retail development in this area, after residents shot down a plan for high-density housing. Image: Streets.mn
false

Julie Kosbab at Streets.mn offers this example from a suburb of Minneapolis, where residents seem to draw absolutely no connection:

In Blaine, there has been a very suburban kerfuffle: Within a large, multi-builder housing development, there were several commercial plots. Despite the housing boom in the area, no one would step up to develop them as commercial, because no one wanted to occupy a potentially developed property. Why?

Lack of density, of course. While most of the development was planned for low- and medium-density housing, one of the biggest protests in Blaine City Council history was when a builder proposed a 157-unit luxury apartment complex on a nearby plot. Nooooo, not luxury apartments! Why, they can ruin a neighborhood! They might be… too luxurious?

Due to neighborhood protest, the plan for this added density was shot down.

Now, many of the same residents who opposed the apartments are shrieking that they were “misled” because they were prooooomised retail! And now those mean builders want to build more homes instead! One city council member bemoaned people who invested in homes based on a “dream” who were being denied that dream.

The reality is that without high-density housing nearby, no one is going to want to be a retail unit in that neighborhood. Even small retail with high-end appeal (childcare? yoga? coffee?) requires a degree of density to support the cost of the property and reasonable financials. Neighbors have suggested businesses they would like to see, but have no real explanation for the lack of business plan that can support such businesses given density and traffic patterns.

Elsewhere on the Network today: Systemic Failure reviews a report that found "Buy America" domestic purchasing requirements are driving up the cost of buses, and make them less efficient. Urban Review STL wonders why raised crosswalks aren't more widely used. And the Dallas Morning News' Transportation Blog reports on the Texas Department of Transportation's ongoing financial woes, which are not helped by its neglect of maintenance obligations.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog USA

Friday Video: The Massachusetts Company That Traded the Trash Truck For a Bike

This small worker-owned cooperative is reimagining how to do recycling, composting, yardwork and more — no diesel required.

August 29, 2025

Friday’s Deadly Headlines

Reducing our reliance on fossil fuels would bring immediate health benefits for hundreds of thousands of people.

August 29, 2025

Talking Headways Podcast: The Menace of Prosperity

Daniel Wortel-London on his new book, "The Menace of Prosperity: New York City and the Struggle for Economic Development, 1875–1981."

August 28, 2025

Thursday’s Headlines Are a Sneak Preview

Want to see what happens when a city makes major transit cuts? Just look at Philadelphia. It's not pretty.

August 28, 2025

What I’ve Learned From Getting Transit Wrong

"Advocacy isn’t about pretending you’ve always been right. It’s about learning, adapting, and bringing those lessons into the fight for better transit and better cities."

August 28, 2025
See all posts