Can Being Undersuccessful Be Good for A Neighborhood?

Time Out New York recently ran an article evaluating Manhattan neighborhoods on their livability based on factors like rental costs and the absence or presence of chain stores, titled Top 10 'Hoods. This put them out ahead of the field, but this week, following on from last Wednesday's MAS program Is New York Losing Its Soul?, at which issues of neighborhood identity, rental prices and the survival of small business featured prominently, many of the rest of the city media are now asking that question, though in different ways.

• The New York Sun reports that Bowery residents are pushing back against developers who are turning this former skid row into luxury condos and hotels, quoting one who describes current development as "inappropriately transforming" the avenue.
• AM New York asks, in light of booming gentrification, few local property owners and an upcoming city rezoning, Is Harlem Losing Its Identity?.
• In another article, AM New York describes how High Rents (are) Displacing Small Businesses by pushing prices beyond the reach of local stores, and covers the recent hearings (at which MAS testified) when tax breaks for independent stores and zoning changes to forbid chain stores were discussed. The possible special district prohibiting banks from fully-occupying ground floor spaces on 125th Street in Harlem being considered by the Department of City Planning is also mentioned.
• And, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reports on a different angle of chain store creep in the city -- one that is peculiarly insidious. With chain stores, especially banks and drug stores, reducing residential property values, real estate agents in an exclusive brownstone neighborhood (Some ) Seek Balance Between Local, Chain Stores on Brooklyn Retail Streets.

Jane Jacobs described the situation when seemingly perfect neighborhoods (diverse people, diverse income levels, mix in building type and age etc.) become gentrified and homogenous as oversuccess. It seems clear from this recent glut of coverage that chain stores are becoming, indeed have become, a major issue in the city, and that neighborhoods that are seeing much of this phenomenon are also experiencing a changing social and economic demography. Typically, rising residential and commercial property values and better shopping are seen as positive indicators, but is it conceivable that the best neighborhoods in the city are those that are currently suffering from a lack of investment and (comparatively) low property values, or "undersuccess"? Is there a happy medium between over and under success?