I talked to some neighbors and was assured things have calmed down recently (i guess after i had a talk with them about the foot traffic).

This is also Washington State.The broker my agent works for says he is happy to host me as a new agent and is fine if I don't bring much appreciable traffic to the office. 

You have anything (inc non traffic misdemeanors) or if you've taken drugs in the last 500 years, then you won't just be turned down in the immigration, you'll be barred from the US for 10 years (even as a tourist). 

Besides if your unable to generate traffic to your site then it wont do anything but burn a hole in your pocket.

The reality is the national tenants and regional typically pay more for high brand exposure and traffic.  

Perhaps the city just doesn't want the population density on one side, could be the traffic flow, or just the surrounding properties don't match with what you describe.From my personal experience, have an open conversation with the city, and don't come at it with your interest in mind first.

As long as you are not in front of the school where the parents drop off and pick up the children creating a traffic and noise nightmare. 

The STNL could feed off the other tenants in the 2 centers for cross traffic without having to go back out into the main road.

If you go Section 8, I would strongly suggest quarterly inspections.The wear and tear is generally more with Section 8.One of my Section 8 tenants, has carpet runners in the heavy traffic areas.

We have commercial units for leasing as well, I felt a lot different than leasing a residential unit, longer vacancy between tenants, different landlord and tenant regulation, and need to consider customer traffic for those commercial tenants.