Gilbert's Plan: Downtown Detroit as a Pedestrian Paradise

[dtowncitylover]

I think the sidewalks in downtown are wide enough. Also, putting a walkway through the median along Woodward wouldn't increase pedestrian traffic. It would actually divert pedestrians away from the retail or restaurants along the current sidewalks. Gilbert has to remember, Campus Martius is the focal point of Lower Woodward. You don't want to distract people on their way to it.

South of Campus Martius along Woodward, there are few structures that would house retail and restaurants. It's all business, besides the small block on the east side of Woodward between First National Bldg. and Congress St. It would give a great aesthetic feel and a nice walk from Campus Martius and the Riverfront that for the most part is a concrete jungle feeling.

[Spartan]

Those of us with longer memories remember that closing off Woodward and Washington Blvd. dealt the death blow to downtown retail. Other American cities have experimented with this same notion, which does sound good on paper, with similar poor results, including several here in Michigan. I truly hope that we don't have to go around that particular cycle of civic disaster again.

Yeah, but Washington and especially Woodward are pretty major, arterial roads. We're talking about Cadillac Square, which is a two-block road that has flanking roads on either side. Not a lot of cars really travel on it.

[Spartan]

"Pineapple Republic" in one of the renderings haha.
Gilbert: "We're not going to reveal any of the tenants we have committed"

[Detroitnerd]

I know I'm always the downer around here, but I'll say it anyway.

Isn't there something strange about this?

A developer buys all these downtown buildings, each of which likely gets a tax abatement attached to it. This is a way of transferring the money from a poor city to a rich landowner.

The city lacks the wealth to come up with an ambitious plan for downtown, largely because of tax abatements and subsidies to going concerns and developers.

And then the private developer unveils the plan he'd prefer for downtown, which will enrich him further, with no public input into the design.

Bless or damn Gilbert's intentions, doesn't this seem a little too Delta City?

[AuburnSpeedster]

I actually like the idea of closing off the street. I know Minneapolis was already brought up, but until you've been to that street you have no idea just how good this COULD be if executed correctly! Nicollet Mall is by far the busiest part of the whole city and for good reason. It's very inviting and encouraging to just simply be able to walk from store to store. [[They also have decent parking on the surrounding blocks to make it work.)

But if executed well this could be fantastic! If executed poorly, however....

[Spartan]

Moosejaw has signed a multiple-year lease to stay downtown.

[Spartan]

Just Baked owner is opening a new Ice Cream shop "Just Topped"

[Spartan]

Also forgot to mention from earlier, this summer in Grand Circus Park: fountains to begin opertaing again, children's play area, beach volleyball, and some more. Capitol Park: music events and movies scheduled for the summer.

Big announcement now: Papa Joe's grocery [[15,000 sq ft) moving into First National Building. Grocery, catering, prepared foods, outdoor seating, full bar.

[dtowncitylover]

Just Baked owner is opening a new Ice Cream shop "Just Topped"

LOL Are you serious?!

And will the Moosejaw have expanded hours, like actually be open week-long?

[Designerguy24]

Papa Joes will be opening 15,000 sq feet on the ground level of the First National Building!!

[rbdetsport]

It was an exciting announcement and great to hear about Papa Joes, but I expected more. Let me down a bit..

[southen]

im not sure that every square inch of public area needs food carts or something "exciting" happening but i do like where things are going. one thing is for sure though, gilbert is going to have to start building more residential quickly. he is going to need a lot more residents down there to make a lot of this work. it would be a mistake not to include a large residential component right on monroe block.

[401don]

I kept thinking the same thing. Every other city has a lot more residential downtown and not just in highrises. You need a decent demographic within a 2-4 mile radius as well. He was really stretching it with some those so called retailers. A concrete company? I like the fact that he's trying to do something this summer to generate excitement about the area and hopefully lead to more retail tenants but you can only have so much smoke and mirrors.

[marshamusic]

Those of us with longer memories remember that closing off Woodward and Washington Blvd. dealt the death blow to downtown retail. Other American cities have experimented with this same notion, which does sound good on paper, with similar poor results, including several here in Michigan. I truly hope that we don't have to go around that particular cycle of civic disaster again.

What do you mean "closing off Woodward and Washington Blvd."? I'm trying to remember that.

[TexasT]

I kept thinking the same thing. Every other city has a lot more residential downtown and not just in highrises. You need a decent demographic within a 2-4 mile radius as well. He was really stretching it with some those so called retailers. A concrete company? I like the fact that he's trying to do something this summer to generate excitement about the area and hopefully lead to more retail tenants but you can only have so much smoke and mirrors.

Isn't he planning on building residential all across the Hudson's site? I thought I recall that. I agree - more housing needed!

[canuck]

I know I'm always the downer around here, but I'll say it anyway.

Isn't there something strange about this?

A developer buys all these downtown buildings, each of which likely gets a tax abatement attached to it. This is a way of transferring the money from a poor city to a rich landowner.

The city lacks the wealth to come up with an ambitious plan for downtown, largely because of tax abatements and subsidies to going concerns and developers.

And then the private developer unveils the plan he'd prefer for downtown, which will enrich him further, with no public input into the design.

Bless or damn Gilbert's intentions, doesn't this seem a little too Delta City?

There's a whole lotta truth in what you bring up, unpleasant truth but truth nonetheless. It is hard to avoid this kind of thing happening at this time in Detroit's history with an EFM in tow. Where is the democratic component?
We will see. Remember efforts by the Kresge foundation and others to propose urban planning for Detroit are also on the block.

But,

The tidbits we can gather from this evocation point in the direction of a people driven design if we compare it to the Ren Cen's first iteration; a massive corporate castle removed from the city's vital pedestrian and commercial activity.

Can Gilbert act alone in a sort of castellated fantasy world, A white knight unto himself repairing the injury on the black metropolis? Stay tuned.

[Eber Brock Ward]

Question for those in the know:

Is this Gilbert's "big ass bomb"? You know, the one so many people have been talking about with Apple Stores and City Targets and so on?

Or is this just a shorter-term step for this summer and the nearer term?

Sort of disappointing if the former, HOLY SHIT HOW AWESOME[[!) if the latter.

[Eber Brock Ward]

im not sure that every square inch of public area needs food carts or something "exciting" happening but i do like where things are going. one thing is for sure though, gilbert is going to have to start building more residential quickly. he is going to need a lot more residents down there to make a lot of this work. it would be a mistake not to include a large residential component right on monroe block.

Didn't he have a "three R's" campaign -- residential, rail, and retail. I don't see a residential component here, so I imagine that this is just a phase of a more comprehensive plan.

[TexasT]

There's a whole lotta truth in what you bring up, unpleasant truth but truth nonetheless. It is hard to avoid this kind of thing happening at this time in Detroit's history with an EFM in tow. Where is the democratic component?
We will see. Remember efforts by the Kresge foundation and others to propose urban planning for Detroit are also on the block.

But,

The tidbits we can gather from this evocation point in the direction of a people driven design if we compare it to the Ren Cen's first iteration; a massive corporate castle removed from the city's vital pedestrian and commercial activity.

Can Gilbert act alone in a sort of castellated fantasy world, A white knight unto himself repairing the injury on the black metropolis? Stay tuned.

Yeah...a lot of changes for Detroiters that could arguably be labelled as very undemocratic. RTW, EFM, Gilbertmania... tough adjustments for the city. The relative lack of protests really shows perhaps how beat down people are and desperate for change at almost any cost...

Is this Gilbert alone though? Who is he speaking for? At least the DDP or just himself?

[ismoakrack]

I agree with previous posters that there needs to be FAR more residential development [[10's of thousands more) in order for downtown to be vibrant and retail to be viable. I also think that closing off streets to create a pedestrian zone also smacks of another failed, passe urban planning scheme.

[TexasT]

To answer my own questions as to who he represents, Facebook tells me this was on behalf of:
City of Detroit, DDP, DEGC, Rock Ventures & Project for Public Spaces

[iheartthed]

I know I'm always the downer around here, but I'll say it anyway.

Isn't there something strange about this?

A developer buys all these downtown buildings, each of which likely gets a tax abatement attached to it. This is a way of transferring the money from a poor city to a rich landowner.

The city lacks the wealth to come up with an ambitious plan for downtown, largely because of tax abatements and subsidies to going concerns and developers.

And then the private developer unveils the plan he'd prefer for downtown, which will enrich him further, with no public input into the design.

Bless or damn Gilbert's intentions, doesn't this seem a little too Delta City?

This announcement made me a little more at ease with his shopping spree. This makes it less likely that Gilbert's in it just to build more parking structures a la Ilitch. It does seem like he gets it -- or the people who work for him -- about what makes urban centers attractive places to be.

[ismoakrack]

From Crains: Dan Gilbert led a group of developers, officials and urban planners in rolling out details Thursday at City Theater of a vision for Detroit that follows Woodward from the riverfront to the north Woodward area. One highlight: Papa Joe's will open a grocery in Detroit. Implementation includes several projects Gilbert says will be in place by as early as summer. Some details: Graffiti artists with art all over walls of the parking garage in the Library District. Moosejaw signed multi-year lease to stay in Detroit permanently Grand Circus Park will become one of the most prominent neighborhoods in the city. Avalon Films and Neumann/Smith will move into the Wright-Kay Building TubeMogul and Uber Just Topped ice cream store, by owner of Just Baked cupcakes Salon Detroit The presentation, still going on after more than two hours, provides a broad vision including esplanades, wide sidewalks, retail and walkable areas. Gilbert brought four nationally recognized experts to consult on the project: Project for Public Spaces of New York Terremark Partners 4th Street in Cleveland Atlanta Shook Kelley of Charlotte, N.C., branding and urban planning Gibbs Planning, Birmingham, Mich. Surprisingly poor reporting from Crains. The author misspelled Detroit in the headline! Anyway, does anyone know who/what TubeMogul and Uber are and what they do?

[TexasT]

From Crains: Dan Gilbert led a group of developers, officials and urban planners in rolling out details Thursday at City Theater of a vision for Detroit that follows Woodward from the riverfront to the north Woodward area. One highlight: Papa Joe's will open a grocery in Detroit. Implementation includes several projects Gilbert says will be in place by as early as summer. Some details: Graffiti artists with art all over walls of the parking garage in the Library District. Moosejaw signed multi-year lease to stay in Detroit permanently Grand Circus Park will become one of the most prominent neighborhoods in the city. Avalon Films and Neumann/Smith will move into the Wright-Kay Building TubeMogul and Uber Just Topped ice cream store, by owner of Just Baked cupcakes Salon Detroit The presentation, still going on after more than two hours, provides a broad vision including esplanades, wide sidewalks, retail and walkable areas. Gilbert brought four nationally recognized experts to consult on the project: Project for Public Spaces of New York Terremark Partners 4th Street in Cleveland Atlanta Shook Kelley of Charlotte, N.C., branding and urban planning Gibbs Planning, Birmingham, Mich. Surprisingly poor reporting from Crains. The author misspelled Detroit in the headline! Anyway, does anyone know who/what TubeMogul and Uber are and what they do?

Uber is a San Fran-based car service [[towncars and SUVs) with an app for your phone to order the car and track it; takes you anywhere in the Metro region but I think it's meant for downtown use [[or two and from downtown from the burbs). You usually get a car within 5-10 mins of ordering through your app. It's a tad expensive but it's quick and very reliable. It came to Chicago recently and my friends love it there.

Dunno about TubeMogul

[Danny]

That's what Dan Gilbert is trying to do. Turn Detroit into Delta City in 25 years. I can't wait until Gilbert buys Compuware. Then OCP will begin its dirtywork. Only they need is Robocop and Robocop 2 to do the dirtywork and Old Detroit will be new again.