Carless incentives at Spaulding Court

[DetroitPole]

I lived in that very same neighborhood for $700/month and my landlord was magnanimous enough to allow me to keep my car. So, uh, the price is a little inflated.

North Corktown is cool, but there isn't much of anything to walk to, its true. Bike to, yes, or a short drive[[I know that's anathema), yes. The Linwood bus, however, blows. I also found the freeway very noisy, in contrast to the rural setting described.

First, I think its fantastic that Spaulding Court is being redeveloped.

The car thing I find a little too preachy.

First, someone could park it on one of the residential streets, which is totally legal, and you would certainly not have to park in front of someone's house in N. Corktown.

Second, I think anyone who would want to rent there would likely be someone who is not going to want to use their car much in the first place. They're not moving there for the school district, duh.

From living here, I think this smacks of the "I'm a better Detroiter" than you. I.e. the attitude by some in this city [[often young people from affluent suburbs who moved here recently) that living on Farnsworth or N. Corktown and riding only a bicycle and planting exotic tomatoes for a living makes someone a better person and a better Detroiter than someone who, say, has a car and an apartment downtown, or a loft, or a single family home in an ordinary [[read: not ironically bombed out or hipster) neighborhood.

I hate driving, but I enjoy the ability to keep my car around. I had one in Midtown and virtually never drove. I also like biking, but not in the winter.

However G-d only knows what would have happened to my girlfriend, who fled Katrina, if she didn't have a car. What about other emergencies, medical or family? These are the people who are always bumming rides from their friends with cars anyway.

Way too dogmatic for me. Keep your carless incentives.

[jon]

I'm all for change for the good and for the future, but I'm still living in today, and that today is a Detroit where it is necessary for most of us to have a car.

Over 30% of Detroit households have no access to a private automobile, they must be living in the world of tomorrow since they would surely perish without basic necessities in your world of today.

They walk, carpool, ride the bus, take a taxi [[did you know Detroit has an extensive taxi system?), ride a bike and rent the occasional car. Basically, they do all the things that planners are trying to convince society to do in order to reduce their carbon footprint. Makes me wonder about your moniker a bit.

I like downtown Detroit and since it's only a 10 minute bike ride [[generally without any traffic), I visit regularly. Moreover, since I don't have have to search to find an affordable place to leave my two tons of steel [[or stop at most stoplights), my trips downtown are totally stress free.

Living downtown is a particular life--that's a good thing. I think It would be nice if there were more particular places to live in this country and less standardized feats of engineering that manage [[for the time being) to support our basic needs. I'm not looking to move all of metro Detroit into Spaulding Court, just a handful of folks who appreciate the life that the community has been building here.

[jon]

I think this smacks of the "I'm a better Detroiter" than you.

I have no doubt that this mentality exists--how much of our economy is built around convincing your peers that you're better than them? I would hope however, that we find some folks to live at Spaulding Court who are more excited about the prospect of living in an awesome place than one upping their peers. While there are a few moral problems with cars [[I would call them mostly engineering issues) their big drawback is that they just tend to make places less good when you have too many of them in one place.

I should note that the owner of Spaulding Court, Friends of Spaulding Court is a non-profit governed by a board that combined has spent over 200 years in the neighborhood. They all own cars. We're not judging people, we're rebuilding a neighborhood.

[Bham1982]

Over 30% of Detroit households have no access to a private automobile, they must be living in the world of tomorrow since they would surely perish without basic necessities in your world of today.

Actually, more like 20-25% of Detroit households lack vehicles. And the % carless drops every Census.

And this in the poorest major city in the U.S., where there are far more poor than carless.

Given the rampant poverty, it's fair to say that outside of a few slacker beardos from Novi, these folks aren't carless by choice.

[jon]

They're living in Novi now?

[Planner3357]

What does a 2 bdrm apt there run?

Not sure...I think starting at $1,000 up to $1800 for the penthouse,,which has an awesome view.

[Det_ard]

Not sure...I think starting at $1,000 up to $1800 for the penthouse,,which has an awesome view.

Not bad for the location, and [[dirty word alert) free parking.

[laphoque]

$750 for a three bedroom is great. You'd be hard pressed to find a newly renovated place of that size around the city for that price. It's within walking distance of the Fenkell, Tireman, Grand River, Linwood & Michigan buses and in an area where many people do bike to get where they need to go. Also SC looks pretty sweet.

[iheartthed]

Not bad for the location, and [[dirty word alert) free parking.

It's not free. The fee for parking is hidden in the rent.

[Planner3357]

It's not free. The fee for parking is hidden in the rent.

Everything is hidden in rent...free A/C, free whatever.....but...places like the dump that is Washington Sq. have similar rent prices AND have a parking fee as extra. So either way it's a good deal...IMO.

[jcole]

I have no doubt that this mentality exists--how much of our economy is built around convincing your peers that you're better than them? I would hope however, that we find some folks to live at Spaulding Court who are more excited about the prospect of living in an awesome place than one upping their peers. While there are a few moral problems with cars [[I would call them mostly engineering issues) their big drawback is that they just tend to make places less good when you have too many of them in one place.

I should note that the owner of Spaulding Court, Friends of Spaulding Court is a non-profit governed by a board that combined has spent over 200 years in the neighborhood. They all own cars. We're not judging people, we're rebuilding a neighborhood.

Two hundred years? That equals 4 fifty year olds who grew up and stayed in Detroit. Not too hard to do.

[joesmithrocks]

Looks awesome for only $1200/month, where do I sign up? Just a couple questions first...Is the tent city still there and is it extra for plywood instead of windows? Also, could you please provide a previous utility bill from a winter month so I can verify that my heating bill will only be $50? Thanks in advance and I look forward to a great landlord-tenant relationship with you.

Hey Dr. Genuis, clearly this photo was from a special event. Notice the decorative lights and the temporary rain shelter erected above the tents. Look at the bright light in the temporary structure on the right side of the photo. And notice that there is no trash visible whatsoever. Whatever this is, it's definitely a well-organized special event. And since this thread began with the words, "The first updated townhouse is available," you're comment appears to be baiting and rather negative. Or did I miss your point? Are you trying be funny... and friendly?

Rock on Spalding Court.

[fryar]

Jon, you guys should start a car share for residents, IMO. Say 2 compact cars and a van for the complex. It allows you to accomplish much the same thing you're trying to accomplish with the incentive rent, but still makes it possible for someone to choose to drive, on occasion, with far less hassle than getting picked up by Enterprise. So it blunts some of the unknowns or possible hazards of not having a car at all.

I think it's great that you guys are trying to build a better city by disincentivizing cars. What a bunch of whiners.

[jon]

I would love to have a car share in the neighborhood and I'm not the only one. The idea has been kicking around for 10+ years. I think the major issue is that we don't have the density to support it [[yet). Once we get a bit further into the project population wise, a car share will be high on the priority list.

[socks_mahoney]

It is actually a really, really nice house on the inside. Everything is of the best quality. The spaulding folk did it right and did it smart, not hard.

Peace: spaulding. keep it up.

[Supersport]

Location, location, location....and Spaulding Court is NOT in a location that can demand $1200 a month in my opinion. You can buy 3000 sq/ft houses in much nicer areas all day for under $1000 a month, with taxes and insurance included.

[fryar]

I'm inclined to agree...but it has some unique qualities. It hosts SOUPs and such, you know, it has a certain cachet of people power or something.

[DetroitPole]

$750 for a three bedroom is great. You'd be hard pressed to find a newly renovated place of that size around the city for that price. It's within walking distance of the Fenkell, Tireman, Grand River, Linwood & Michigan buses and in an area where many people do bike to get where they need to go. Also SC looks pretty sweet.

As I said before, you could literally throw a rock [[maybe a slingshot) and hit where I used to live in that neighborhood from Spalding Court not that long ago which was $700.00 per month. It was 3 bedrooms, clean, safe, historic, and solid as a rock. I'm not trying to be a defeatist; when I lived in the area I longed to see SC redeveloped. However it is still very simple economics, no matter what kind of spin one puts on it. If you can go down the street and get a much cheaper deal of similar quality, then people will.

[jon]

Some pictures: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?s...68556503160475

[fryar]

Some pictures: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?s...68556503160475

Apart from the basement, that's gorgeous. In part because, it looks like, you're rehabbing some of the old stuff in there, instead of replacing it with something new and cheesy. And I'm not knocking you guys for not finishing that basement, it has something going on that would have been a shame to lose in favor of cookie cutter "gut reno" stuff.

What's your vision for SC as a community or complex or whatever, and what are you doing to implement that?

[Sailor Rick]

I briefly lived at SC about 20 years ago. It felt very European with its solid brick construction, arched entrances and sweet interior woodwork.

The desolation of the neighborhood at the time, coupled with my ride, a 70’s manual transmission Volvo wagon or “Brick”, I imagined I was tooling around Berlin in the winter of ’46. No frisky frauleins for cigarettes but only an occasional ‘Want a date mister” at the corner gas station.

I often wondered what they would look like if restored but figured they’d slowly crumble like much of the neighborhood.

Glad to see you’ve rescued them. You’ve put your money and sweat you’re your mouth is. Good luck!

[jon]

What's your vision for SC as a community or complex or whatever, and what are you doing to implement that?

Here's the quick reply

We're close to the end of the stabilization phase. Essentially, we want to be able to cover the ongoing tax, insurance and maintenance costs through rental income. We'll get there at the end of the summer when the second renovated unit becomes available.

We're currently laying the groundwork for the planning phase. There's a lot of good stuff going on in the neighborhood, some new and some old. We want to use Spaulding Court to make more good stuff happen and make the current stuff even better. It's going to be a big [[fun) community undertaking and will probably take a few seasons to get to construction documents. We've enlisted the help of a group from the anthropology department at Wayne State to help with it and are working off of a number of models that have been floating around the city.

On top of that, we're well aware that nice things cost money. Though our Soup at Spaulding program, we've been raising [[a little) money for projects across Corktown and Detroit. It's been quite a learning experience and we're hoping to be able to raise at least $500k online by the end of next summer.