SouthPointe, Summit Springs and auto-centrism amid the bursting retail bubble.

Photo credit: Barrister Commercial Group.

The usual auto-centric suburban design adorned with a hideous, generic name; a few more trees and a blizzard of developer-speak verbiage, and this nagging impression that with all this accumulated wealth looking for a landing spot, just imagine if it were invested in human beings rather than cornfields.

Work has begun on a new $80 million, 363,000-square-foot retail center in Louisville.

After years of planning and a prolonged court battle, local developer Barrister Commercial Group has finally broken ground on SouthPointe Commons that will sit on 48 acres off Bardstown Road near the Gene Snyder Freeway.

“SouthPointe Commons will achieve a unique ambiance through a complement of restaurants, entertainment, fashion tenants and specialty retailers connected with tree-lined streets. The lifestyle center is all about amenities and designs that enrich the consumer experience,” Barrister Commercial Group CEO Frank A. Csapo said in a news release.

Then there's this.

There is a retail bubble -- and it's bursting, by Paul R. La Monica (CNN)

 ... During a conference call with analysts on Tuesday, CEO Richard Hayne (Urban Outfitters) compared the state of retail to the housing glut last decade that helped bring about the Great Recession.

"Retail square feet per capita in the United States is more than six times that of Europe or Japan. And this doesn't count digital commerce," Hayne said. "Our industry, not unlike the housing industry, saw too much square footage capacity added in the 1990s and early 2000s."

"Thousands of new doors opened and rents soared. This created a bubble, and like housing, that bubble has now burst," he added. "We are seeing the results: doors shuttering and rents retreating. This trend will continue for the foreseeable future and may even accelerate."

Back here in New Gahania, we're doing precisely the same thing, except Summit Springs (such a horrible name) is being placed atop a hill along a poorly planned commercial corridor (State Street), and now its money-grubbing progenitors have an active partner in the city of New Albany, because it's a bright, shiny object ... and who cares when the storm water comes cascading down the slope?

ON THE AVENUES: Our great and noble leader is here to stay, so let's break out the țuică and make a joyful noise.