Jefferson Pointe is a "lifestyle center," if you're being positive, a "fake downtown" if you are not. Just don't call it a mall:
Also, as much as they try, lifestyle centers don't really feel like downtowns. They're fake. It feels almost Disney-esque. I've read that some of these lifestyle centers even have fake parking meters along their "Main Street," for the complete downtown feel. When it comes down to it, I guess I'd rather see fake downtowns than Elmore-style development, but even better would be bringing shopping back to our real downtown.
I've been to a few of these places besides Jefferson Pointe; there's one near Indianapolis that's even laid out like a small downtown, with cross streets and everything. As much as we've done to kill off downtowns with our living patterns, we still seem to yearn for the form. Just with better parking.
