The day of the skyscraper downtown area where people "have to go shop" is long gone, and planners better figure it out. Phoenix, AZ, is a better approach. They put some money into the downtown area, with the Suns building and the convention center, but they encouraged the explosion of the suburbs of Tempe, Mesa, Chandler, Glendale, Paradise Valley, etc. which all have FED Phoenix and kept it alive. I think the best a downtown can do any more is to be home to a variety of specialized niche restaurants, large-scale sporting events/conventions, and night clubs---but you have to guard to keep out the nudie bars and tatoo parlors, which in Phoenix's case went in large part to some unregulated county lands in the riverbed areas.
The Arena District in Columbus. And Nationwide Arena was built with private money.