Serious circulation problems plague the parking structure of the building as well as the flow of pedestrian traffic through the mall. Since the building sits on both sides of the river, shoppers must know that there are two separate garages. Additionally, the elevators and escalators that bring visitors to the upper levels of the mall are only at the two ends of the mall, blocking people from easily going from one store to another one below it. Elevators are difficult to find, as the designers clearly preferred to expose the visitor to more stores. Although Lord & Taylor, one of the three anchor stores is leaving the mall in early 2004, five new stores have signed leases and the mall remains at 98% capacity.

The many, sometimes contradictory interests of city planners, developers, preservationists, individuals, architects, and retail stores created a building that has indeed supplied the city with new jobs and tax revenues, but this structure is sometimes difficult to navigate, and does not fully invite visitors to experience the city visually as it might. Greater views of the city from within the mall, or even a roof-top cafe might have given visitors more opportunities to interface with the city in addition to the merchandise at the mall.