Metro Detroit-Windsor 2015 Predictions

For historical purposes, below are links to the previous new year prediction threads:

2012
2013
2014

And here we go:

1. Thanks to the passage of new legislation allowing billboards on buildings, Ilitch announces a new "Times Square Michigan" complex at Woodward and Columbia.
2. Nearby, the new arena starts to take shape.
3. The rails for M-1 Rail are installed as far north as I-94.
4. The Tigers win the division for the fifth consecutive season.
5. The success of Gold Cash Gold results in the extension of the city's regeneration onto Michigan Avenue which extends through Corktown, resulting in...
6. ...a surprise announcement that MCS will once again be the city's central train station.
7. SMART continues it's project to replace their entire fixed-route fleet.
8. The Red Wings make another playoff appearance, but crash and burn in the first round.
9. The rebuilding of the Lions continues.
10. After loosing Target, traffic at Northland will have decreased to the point that Macy's places their store there on a list of stores closing this year.

Add your predictions.

1. With a shortage of Class A office space, a new development on the Monroe Block is announced.
2. Gilbert reveals renderings and a timeline for the Hudson's Block in late spring.
3. Ground breaks on the Roxbury Development above the Westin garage [[which is actually owned by the DECG) and the Statler property.
4. Olympia Development announces a major office tenet in their arena development.
5. The Boondoggle..I mean Bus Rapid Transit gets no closer to reality.
6. 5-10 major retailers, including Apple, announce stores along the Woodward Corridor.
7. Bells Brewery announces a new tasting room in downtown.
8. Major tents are signed for the I-94 industrial park.
9. The Packard Plant shows signs of life and announced a handful of logistical companies will locate there.
10. 2-3 firms will announce their re-location to downtown from Oakland County and Books flips his....
11. The Book Tower is rumored to be re-developed into 360 apartments.
12. The David Stott will be sold to a residential developer for conversion.
13. The Free Press Building will remain vacant.
14. Plans for I-375 will be announced [[but no budget to move forward).
15. The Pistons will float the idea of playing a few games in Downtown Detroit every year....leading to 5-7 years down the road, a full-time relocation.

1. David Stott Building begins redevelopment into apartments.
2. Someone buys the Book Tower, with plans to renovate
3. Crime rate goes down again, and Detroit loses its top spot as "most dangerous city"
4. Red Wings win the Stanley Cup
5. A new hotel gets announced, to be built in Corktown
6. Some sort of retail development is announced on the bridge crossing I-75 as part of the Ilitch project
7. It is announced that I-375 will be removed
8. At least one more brewery is announced in Midtown
9. The Metropolitan Building gets slated for demolition
10. Nothing happens at the Fail Jail site, still.

1. Prominent company from outside Michigan moves to Detroit
2. Monroe Block project announced featuring residential and a luxury brand hotel like JW Marriott, Intercontinental,etc
3. City of Detroit sues owners of Free Press Building
4. Wayne State announces plans for a mixed project for Warren/Woodward
5. More mixed use project announced for Corktown
6 CityTarget picks downtown or midtown location
7. Park Hotel demolished for arena project/Eddystone spared

Less regional cooperation.

The number of people moving to Detroit will equal the number moving out of Detroit.

1-Dan Gilbert adds the troubled Penobscot to his portfolio and announces, then retracts, that its swastikas will be removed.

2-New Wayne County Exec. Warren Evans returns to his flamboyant style grabbing headlines as the big player in neighborhood security and blight removal efforts. Duggan chafes under the loss of attention.

3-Bolstered by low gasoline prices and with the recall issues largely behind them the Detroit automakers have record profit years. Each announces a new line of smart-car innovations after hackers succeed in disrupting automotive functions by attacking older chips and trigger a new round of recalls.

4-Young Tigers Nick Castellanos and Jose Iglesias emerge as all-stars propelling the Tigers to win the American League pennant.

5-Discussion re-emerges about doming Woodward from Grand Circus Park to Campus Martius and goes nowhere.

6-Improved enforcement of water payments, code violation and blight removal squeeze the poor out of Detroit. Protests erupt demanding new affordable housing arise.

7-Fenando Palazuela secures a mixed bag of major funding for Packard. Demolition of all but a few buildings begins. An autonomous automobile manufacturer announces the construction of a robotic manufacturing facility incorporating the old office architecture along Grand Blvd. for building driverless cars reviving the Packard name. Wags quip, "Great, no workers to build cars with no drivers."

8-Dan Gilbert sweetens the pot and acquires Wayne County jail site. State, City and County come together to announce new criminal justice campus to be built around the Mound Road Correctional facility combined with a major commercial and neighborhood redevelopment surrounding the campus.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lowell

3-Bolstered by low gasoline prices and with the recall issues largely behind them the Detroit automakers have record profit years. Each announces a new line of smart-car innovations after hackers succeed in disrupting automotive functions by attacking older chips and trigger a new round of recalls.

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Actually the only car that can be remotely hacked is the Tesla. Tesla is the only vehicle that allows remote updates of software. Tesla's vehicles are the only cars on the road that can be hacked without a hard wired connection to the vehicle. All other cars require a hard wired connection to the vehicle. It's not the current or old cars that are the problem. It's the new not yet built cars that will have the security hole of remote software updates.

If someone really wanted to hack your car there are far simpler old fashion mechanical things that can be done to the car. If you were out to get someone, Why go to the trouble of becoming a software savant when you could just pull a connector on a sensor.

To hack a fleet of vehicle other than the tesla, you would need to physically visit every one of the vehicles in the fleet. You would need to spend at between 5 and 20 minutes with each one of them.

Locks:
-New structures rise at: Orleans landing; WSU's Cass-Canfield development; new condos at Lafayette-Rivard
-Trader Joes announces that they will build a store on Cass Ave.
-Shinola opens a store on Merchant's Row.
-Tigers win the World Series.


Worth Betting on:
-Formal announcement and late-year groundbreaking on Hudson Block [[residential, office, and retail spread across two neighboring high-rises).
-CoD requires preservation of the two Park Avenue hotels, cleanup and mothballing ensue. Illitches balk, lobby for demo, and other white knight developers come in to do restoration into residential and hotel use.
-Announcement and site prep on at least one new residential highrise directly on the riverwalk in shadow of RenCen.
-I-94 widening plans scuttled, but expensive rebuilding project for all of central/east-side stretch begins


Wishes:
-CoD reverses course on the Park Avenue Bldg., seizing title via condemnation and putting out an RFP for its redevelopment.
-Formal announcement on Monroe Block plans, featuring a 30-story luxury hotel and apartment combo with department store anchor.
-Modern office high rise announced elsewhere in CBD/financial district.


Other Happenings:
-Pope Francis visits as part of an 8-city U.S.A. tour, with audiences at Comerica Park, Hart Plaza, and Blessed Sacrament Cathedral.
-Unemployment in Michigan [[seasonally adjusted) drops to 5.5%
-Michigan bans fracking.

Well, here's the Freep's official predictions for 2015, some of which have already been told here:

1. Snyder and the GOP agree to reform several charters.
2. Pope Francis visits Detroit.
3. The project to bring every street light in the city back into service is completed early.
4. The Tigers win the World Series.
5. Investment in the city continues while the unemployment rate drops at historic rates.
6. Suh buys warmer socks.
7. The last remaining vacant house in the city is demolished.
8. Maroun sells MCS to an investor.
9. Every DDOT bus runs as scheduled, on time.
10. Detroit is chosen as a site for major Tesla production by Elon Musk.
11. Michigan begins to pay motorists $5 for every single pothole they drive over.
12. The Lions win the Super Bowl for the very first time.
13. Marriage equality is legalized in Michigan.
14. Michigan's roads are voted as the best in America.
15. A homecoming parade for every Detroit-area soldier returning home takes place on Woodward.

1. Detroit's black population decreased to 83.2%

2. Detroit's white population increased to 11.9%

3. Detroit's hispanic population increased to 7.1%

4. Dan Gilbert buys the three Penobscot Building and The former Wayne County Jail project.

5. Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan release a 5 year plan to demolished dangerous buildings.

6. Sixty-Six percent of the L.E.D. street Lighting are installed in most Detroit ghetto hoods and main roads.

7. John Varvatos just open his underwear clothier in [[Gilberttown) Detroit.

8. Dan Gilbert has plans to plan Apple Store to Woodward and State St. in the Kresge Building.

10. More black folks killing black folks in the ghetto hoods in Detroit. It will contibute to population decline.

11. Detroit Red Wings will not go the playoffs.

12. Detroit Tigers will not win the 2015 ALCS Championship.

13. Detroit Lions will lose to Dallas Cowboys 37 to 35 Tony Romo made a game winning touchdown just under :27 seconds. Ndamakong Suh is rejected from the game for unsportsman-like conduct. The NFL might consider suspend him for 10 games next season. Lions manager considers to have Suh released.

Well here are my predictions for 2015:
1. Detroit will become a magnet for financial institutions and technology companies fleeing from the high cost of doing business elsewhere and looking to take advantage of Detroit's revival.
2. The University of Windsor will begin construction on a new school of visual arts in downtown Windsor and increase its' ties to Wayne State, which will also expand its' footprint downtown.
3. Work will finally begin on the new bridge linking Detroit and Windsor now that federal elections are looming on both sides of the border and politicians troll for votes.
4. Manufacturing will come back to Detroit in a big way as the global economy tanks. Companies fleeing political turmoil in Asia and Europe will find Detroit's endless supply of skilled labor and institutions of higher learning irresistible when looking to relocate.
5. Governor Snyder will provide the funding needed to extend Detroit's light rail all the way to 8-Mile.
6. The Lions will finally make it to the Super Bowl and the Wings will win the Cup.

- Detroit Tigers sign Max Scherzer to 6 year mega deal, tears tendom in arm and requires career ending Tommy John surgery.
- Red Wings make playoffs, lose in conference final, Babcock leaves for Toronto.
- Lions continue to inspire but go "same ole Lions" mode when it counts, lose to Packers in Green Bay for millionth year in a row.
- Pistons turn it around, win NBA Championship, Tom Gores celebrates by imploding The Palace and moving team to the new arena downtown.
- Detroit actually gains population for first time in decades, murder rate under 250, and Belle Isle is once again a Jewel.

Predictions:

Sports:
-Tigers will have a mediocre season and finish second in the Central
-Wings will not make it to the playoffs for the first time in my lifetime

City:
-Several new retailers, including entrepreneurial businesses, announce downtown or midtown openings
-A couple of new high density residential towers are announced, making way for a 5th Avenue-ization of the Woodward corridor.
-Blight removal and busting takes off and paves for the way for redevelopment in the inner neighborhoods
-First redevelopment project in those neighborhoods is announced with the construction of several apartment buildings
-City reveals immigration scheme to bring new arrivals here to repopulate the city. [[In the same spirit the Australians did to the British and Irish in the 1950s)
-M-1 Rail is ahead of schedule and to be completed by Q3 2016, instead of Q4.
-Announcement of second span from New Center to State Fair
-City of Detroit, Wayne County, and State of Michigan create a government sponsored enterprise to buy the Michigan Central Station from Matty Maroun and redevelop it back into a train station and office/hotel space.

Suburbs:
-Continued growth of exurbs
-Macy's Northland to announce closure; the once mighty mall is nears death to happen in 2016 or 2017.
-Eastland to decline faster as well
-Sears Oakland Mall to announce closure

Michigan:
-MDOT has an about-face and invests more of its budget into transit and announces it's commitment to a train line from Detroit to Holland via Lansing and GR
-Gay marriage ban overturned by US Supreme Court and therefore the entire state of Michigan is swallowed up by the Great Lakes for being a bunch of sodomites and devil worshippers ;)
-Michigan invades Ohio to take Toledo and the strip of shore between Toledo and Cedar Point so Michiganders never have to step into Ohio again. US Government upholds annexation.

Ok I gotta stop...

There will be 300 people murdered in Detroit.
There might be one or two in Windsor.
Again.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mtburb

After loosing Target, traffic at Northland will have decreased to the point that Macy's places their store there on a list of stores closing this year.

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It's official.

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...hfields-acting

Here are two more predictions I'm gonna add.

-The Manhattanization of Woodward Avenue officially begins after two more mid-rise projects are announced.
-The Sears in Lincoln Park holds a store-closing sale. Dollar Tree, the LP Shopping Center's other remaining tenant, pulls out and moves to a newer nearby location and the now completely-vacant shopping center is bulldozed.