> It's part of the reason every valuable downtown is now coffee shops, banks, and lawyer's offices, nothing else can pay the rent (best use? probably from a money perspective, not from any other).
The problem is now that there are no actual shops left because they can rent, community centers end up dead in a vicious cycle as when large traffic attractors leave, the smaller shops that would catch random passersby don't have passersby any more.
To make it worse, city governments usually don't have any way (e.g. via zoning) to regulate what precise kind of commercial activity is allowed in a property - the result is what you describe.
The problem is now that there are no actual shops left because they can rent, community centers end up dead in a vicious cycle as when large traffic attractors leave, the smaller shops that would catch random passersby don't have passersby any more.
To make it worse, city governments usually don't have any way (e.g. via zoning) to regulate what precise kind of commercial activity is allowed in a property - the result is what you describe.