A state appeals court yesterday got rid of the last legal hurdle to the building of an 848,000-square foot expansion of the Carousel Center mall by tossing out an appeal by 10 of the mall's tenants. If you know the area malls, they're basically going to take ShoppingTown and stick it in the parking lot.

What the court didn't do was clear practical hurdles.

In order to qualify for tax breaks, construction has to begin by the end of the year. Which means really soon, because the ground will be frozen in not too long.

It'll be interesting to see what the city requires for "construction must begin." Because this expansion would take up a lot of parking and block some major entrances to the mall (including direct entrances to some of the stores who lost their appeal), and the Christmas shopping season is nigh, it's not really a good time to be pissing off your retail tenants any more than you have to.

My question still remains, though. What happens if Macy's, Lord & Taylor, Borders, Circuit City, J.C. Penney, and all the other stores that will lose direct entrances and nearby parking, lose too much business and decide to close? I highly doubt Pyramid can fill those spots and and entirely new mall. It takes steady tenants to recruit new ones, and when your biggest stores become Best Buy and Ruby Tuesday, well, you're not exactly setting yourself up to become the most successful mall on the planet.

Oh, and let's not start talking about the Destiny project yet. This initial expansion holds none of the promise of being green construction or using green energy, does not involve taking half the North Side by eminent domain (which, when it comes time, the city may well not do), and isn't promising $60,000 a year jobs that require training for positions without job descriptions.

And the Inner Harbor? Don't bet on Pyramid plopping down any money any time soon, despite the fact that it put in the most attractive bid four years ago and the next-highest bidder actually would do something with it if given the opportunity.

I hate to see development projects fail, but I could stand to see this one go south.