Universities and center city revitalization

From "WSU chief Reid's vision is textbook lesson for Detroit," in the Detroit News:

For a glimpse of what it takes to get people back into Detroit -- an occasionally hot topic in this fall's mayoral campaign -- take a look at Wayne State University. Where there used to be dingy old buildings and blight, there are new dorms. Where few places to eat, drink and buy books could be found, there are now Einstein's Bagels, a Jimmy John's sandwich shop, the obligatory Starbucks and a Barnes & Noble bookstore that caters to both students and the public. Others are coming.

And if President Irvin D. Reid gets his way, a prominent new addition to the growing collection of new businesses on the edge of Michigan's largest urban university will be a 200-room upscale hotel and conference center at the southwest corner of Woodward and Warren. "The idea is to bring more people into Midtown," Reid told me Tuesday. "Every facility we build on this campus has a retail element. That's the strategy."

This is a welcome voice of educational entrepreneurialism rising above the tiresome chorus of other voices saying "can't do," "need more money" and "Detroit is dead." It certainly isn't around Wayne State...
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There are tremendous opportunities posed by the presence of the universities in certain neighborhoods in Washington, DC.