Brewster-Douglass Projects Demolition Proceeds

[esp1986]

Wouldn't it make more sense to start redeveloping some of the neighborhoods away from downtown and midtown? I look at neighborhood's like Detroit's North End and Brightmoor and think that the city has done nothing to redevelop these areas. All the redevelopment is going on downtown and midtown, there is at least another 135 square miles to Detroit than those two parts of town. Take for example zip code 48205 and look at the condition it is in, 48205 is the extreme northeast part of the city that includes Gratiot Avenue.

I live in Chicago and am plenty happy with the development they have here that is away from downtown. In Chicago you have the South Loop, Lincoln Park, Lakeview, Albany Park, Bridgeport, West Loop, River North and so on. Of course some of these areas are real close to downtown like the South and West Loops and River North but the rest of them are away from downtown and doing just fine. It's too bad Detroit can't get their act together and rebuild the city properly. Downtown doesn't need anymore attention, the rest of the city is in terrible shape.

Young professionals are filling up the city's core, courtesy of private investments. Demand in those areas is still high, with much usable space to spare. Most of the investment in the city is being done in a walkable area... people need to be able to get around, and they want to do so without a car, ruling out a number of outlying neighborhoods.

However, it is all a spider effect. If vacant space gets used up and corresponding rent's rise significantly, people will begin to look to surrounding areas. This is when development will begin to spider out from the Core. Unfortunately, the city's core is nowhere near the point where this will happen. Development will largely travel along the main roads, Woodward, Jefferson, Michigan Ave, etc. When all the vacant space along those routes begins to get used up, then the growth outside of the downtown core can begin. So, there's a long way to go.

A city doesn't work like a suburb. You can't take an area of land and expect people to come along and want to live there for no reason. People need amenities, which is why those neighborhoods have failed, too many people moved out, and local stores closed because there was no longer enough business to support them. This is why the city it trying to move people in outlying neighborhoods to stronger ones. A neighborhood has to have a draw in a city, because not everyone has a car. Build it and they will come will not work in this case.

It will take a long time for some areas to come back, if they ever do. Some neighborhoods may be completely demolished by the time there is ever demand in the area again, which could mean the birth of new neighborhoods. Detroit's greatest growth happened over the course of about 50 years, from about 1905-1955 [[dates are negotiable). So it won't happen quickly, unfortunately, and there are some people that wonder if it will ever happen... There is positive momentum, though, so we just have to be patient, and allow the economics of the city rebuild itself.

To answer the question of rebuilding other parts of the city... no. While it would be great to focus on some other areas, the prospects of them flourishing as a result is bleak, which is why the city is trying to consolidate neighborhoods. This is all from an economic perspective, however. I would love to see other parts of the city be rebuilt someday, but it is all about demand. People want to live in the core of the city where all of the excitement is. That is where the demand is. It's all about economics 101, supply and demand. There is a lot of supply of space in the city, but demand is far from catching up with it.