Missed opportunity

I have always wondered why the United Center was not built downtown. Most cities who have built arenas in recent years have done so in the heart of the city, in order to bring more people downtown or to bolster an already vibrant city center. At the time the United Center was built, in the early to mid-90's, there were abundant parking lots and other underused land in the River North area. This would have been the perfect place to put the arena and create an even more cohesive entertainment district to compliment the Mag Mile. The United Center would have only taken up one or two blocks. They could have put some parking underground and forced many/most people to use the train to get to games. The way the United center is today, removed from everything and surrounded by endless surface lots, is very disappointing. Chicago missed a chance to do something really special with its arena. Does anybody else feel the same way?>