Possible New Life for Michigan Central Station? Ford Motor Co. a Buyer? YES!

[Satiricalivory]

And Vernor Highway is a commercial street with many establishments. But you would have to live in Detroit to know that.

You act like half a mile is not within biking or walking distance. And there are indeed residents directly on the road, it's not just commercial. https://www.google.com/maps/@42.3238...7i16384!8i8192

Look around you next time you hit Vernor *highway*, It's got bike lanes and MoGo stations, and Mexicantown now has shared streets.

The city is literally spending tens of millions of dollars to renovate major roads for better walkability [[McNichols, Grand River, Livernois) and with larger sidewalks too. This is also great for local businesses and studies prove it.

[Richard]

^^ I remember when I was younger going down to MSC and seeing all the neighborhoods around the station, which was still open.

Just did a Google search and had forgotten how desolate the area around the MSC has become. They can reroute the traffic to get thru to Mexicantown without any problem.

But as far as walkability goes... there needs to be neighborhoods there first for any kind of walkability to take hold. I don't see much neighborhood going up around the MSC in the plans... much of the neighborhood planning is for north Corktown, north of the Fisher Fwy. Maybe by 2025-2030 there might be some neighborhoods around the MSC. I hope so.

Cities are based on long term and creating demand verses waiting for it,when you use the example of there needs to be neighborhoods there first it defeats the long term objective.

What do people look at when they want to locate somewhere and for what reason?

It has already been proven those who use public transportation will locate where it is obtainable.

People that desire walkability will locate where they can achieve that,entire neighborhoods across the country have been design solely based in that.

Proactive verses reactive and People like options.It’s actually easier to create communities then it is to convert them.

Where I am at people love their sprawl but what is taking hold is mixed in that sprawl is little mini communities where in the center is a couple of restaurants,community center,sports bar,fitness club etc. and all around that square is the residential,it like little mini city centers.

Its Kinda cool,after you spend two hours in traffic you can park your car and walk 200 feet and all that you need is right there.Then they have miles of bike paths connecting all of these mini cities together.

But I do not think like in Detroit one can say,because that is what it is today,that is how it will be in the future,it has been proven wrong so many times.

[Lapooty]

Boy was this thread nice and buried.

Found this video of MCS interior work. Ford might try to get this taken down if they find out about it so wanted to post for Dyes to see before that happens.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_9iHqmzaiQ

Its a 360 video, so you can drag the screen around to see everything.

[Detroit Stylin]

Boy was this thread nice and buried.

Found this video of MCS interior work. Ford might try to get this taken down if they find out about it so wanted to post for Dyes to see before that happens.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_9iHqmzaiQ

Its a 360 video, so you can drag the screen around to see everything.

Now THAT is AMAZING!. It looks so much different and better than how it did during that open house Ford had it a few year ago. A good amount of progress it almost looks new and damn near orginal!

[One Shot]

That video is awesome! Imagine thats what the scene looked like when it was originally built.

[Jimaz]

Michigan Central Station set to reopen in June

The iconic train station has been closed for more than three decades, but on the evening of Monday, Feb. 19, 2024, the message “6.6.2024″ suddenly shone on the front.

• Michigan Central Station announces reopening date, more than 30 years after closing

[stasu1213]

Can Detroit have changes without making the raising the taxes in the changed area that long time residents can't stay any longer?

[JBMcB]

Can Detroit have changes without making the raising the taxes in the changed area that long time residents can't stay any longer?

They can't raise property taxes more than 5% per year or the inflation rate, whichever is lower. The past couple of years it's been 5% as inflation has soared, but usually increases have little to do with increased property value if you own your house. We've had property tax increases even when the value of our house has decreased.

[401don]

Can Detroit have changes without making the raising the taxes in the changed area that long time residents can't stay any longer?

This is an odd thread to make this comment. Ford is probably paying no taxes on the Depot with the tax breaks they would have requested but the increase in residential, hotels, restaurants, etc. in Corktown will only benefit existing taxpayers.

[Richard]

This is an odd thread to make this comment. Ford is probably paying no taxes on the Depot with the tax breaks they would have requested but the increase in residential, hotels, restaurants, etc. in Corktown will only benefit existing taxpayers.

Not if you are also giving them the same tax captures,the two posts reflect cause and effect,somebody has to make up the difference and the only way to do that is to increase the taxes on the existing taxpayers in order to offset the loss.

It’s kinda how the city got to where it is in the first place.

But the train station and many others are a testimonial to it comes back around,how many times in the past did they want to demolish it?

[JonWylie]

They are up in front of the Planning Commission to discuss the zoning change for the hotel. In the staff report is this photo



Staff Report - Michigan Central Train Station.pdf [[detroitmi.gov)

[mikeg19]

Can't believe it's been 6 years since Ford bought it and now it's opening. I can't wait to walk through it, having only seen pictures of it's decay as I was only a baby when it closed.

[gratiotfaced]

I wish we knew a little more about what the retail offerings will be, and what the platform area will look like. The renderings have all shown variations of greenery and garden space out back, but will there be anything to activate it and draw people in?

[Gistok]

OK... I was wondering why the Carriage Entry part of the MCS did not have much done to it. Its' use is now planned as the MCS Hotel entry and lobby.

Here are 2 images of that [to be enclosed] space, both showing it as being a Carriage House, instead of the now planned Hotel. One image shows it from the back, without the yet to be designed Hotel Entry off the back, on the left. The other image shows how it would look like from the interior as a Carriage House, instead of the now planned Hotel Lobby.

That PDF file shows that in the 15 story MCS tower, the top 3 and bottom 2 floors of the tower will be hotel space.

The west end of the tower has 2 hotel elevator shafts, which I assume will be dedicated to hotel patrons, and the east end of the tower has 6 hotel elevators, likely all for office users. The tower floor plan showing elevator placement is reversed [east is to the left].

[stasu1213]

Not if you are also giving them the same tax captures,the two posts reflect cause and effect,somebody has to make up the difference and the only way to do that is to increase the taxes on the existing taxpayers in order to offset the loss.

It’s kinda how the city got to where it is in the first place.

But the train station and many others are a testimonial to it comes back around,how many times in the past did they want to demolish it?

Agree. I am excited about the renovation and opening of the former train station. I am excited about the new hotels and condos that are lining Michigan Avenue. Gentrification will happen especially in areas that are in or near the downtown area. I just hate to see improvements happening in neighborhoods the Eastside or Westside of Detroit and longtime homeowners be taxed out of their homes or forced to lose their homes through other means

[Richard]

Agree. I am excited about the renovation and opening of the former train station. I am excited about the new hotels and condos that are lining Michigan Avenue. Gentrification will happen especially in areas that are in or near the downtown area. I just hate to see improvements happening in neighborhoods the Eastside or Westside of Detroit and longtime homeowners be taxed out of their homes or forced to lose their homes through other means

It’s going to happen though,the city will also push for the change over as things progress.

Where I am at my property taxes ar capped at no more then 3% so I pay $520 a year,if I sold my house the next buyer would be paying $2300,and yea they sure try and get you to sell.

Their favorite target is long term home owners,many times people in generational homes.you have to keep fighting them and push for legislation actions.

Florida is one of the most homestead protected states in the country,if your home is homesteaded nobody can take or lien your house,even in lawsuits or bankruptcy.As long as you pay your property taxes and do not piss the IRS off.

You would figure that’s the way it should be because it creates more stable and long term homeowners and communities,but cities like to get greedy also.

New Orleans was like Detroit where there were a majority of generational home owners,it took a hurricane to get them out.

In 2014 HUD gave the cities a playbook on methods that could be used to “encourage” people to relocate.

It was branded as a “neighborhood diversity program” the goal was that every neighborhood had to be equally racially diverse,or cities would lose their millions in HUD funding.

Of course it hit African American communities no different then slamming a freeway through them,in the playbook they had pages of methods code enforcement could use in order to encourage people to move.

I read something the other day where Michigan was proposing eliminating property taxes all together,not sure if that was just pandering or if they actually thought about the ramifications because it would pretty much kill any project in Detroit,let alone all the completed ones in the last 5 years.

Axe MI Tax is a proposed state constitutional amendment to forbid taxation and collection on real estate and personal property. Local governments would thus be required to fund essential services through existing state income, sales, alcohol, tobacco and marijuana taxes.

Property taxes, of which there is a statewide rate along with rates that local governments tack on, require land and building owners to pay money based on their taxable value. Rates vary, but 1.32% was typical in Michigan last year, according to financial advice company SmartAsset.

If that goes through,one better hope people increase smoking pot,cigarettes and drinking more others wise you might be out of gas as they say.

But the worst part is it puts the state in control of the city,which is wrong.

Puerto Rico is like that,you are only charged property taxes as long as you have a mortgage on the property,once it is paid for,no more taxes.

Looks good on paper but 1/2 the country has fled because basic services cannot be met.You guys already went down that road and know where it leads,maybe Don can teach them how to bang their head against the wall.

They are always trying to come up with radical solutions,sometimes I wonder if they are so isolated from society they forget there are real people involved.

[K-slice]

Agree. I am excited about the renovation and opening of the former train station. I am excited about the new hotels and condos that are lining Michigan Avenue. Gentrification will happen especially in areas that are in or near the downtown area. I just hate to see improvements happening in neighborhoods the Eastside or Westside of Detroit and longtime homeowners be taxed out of their homes or forced to lose their homes through other means

No one is getting "taxed out" of their homes. There is no conceivable way that the 5% max increase is pushing anyone out. It's a total myth that homeowners in Detroit are being forced out of their homes by one thing or another.

Renters, sure, they can be pushed out due to rent increases, but there's a simple solution to that. BUY A HOME! You can still find hundreds if not thousands of move-in-ready homes in the city for under $150K, which would mean your mortgage payment under $1,000/month.

What we need more if are newly-built, desirable homes and condos that come with a premium price tag to compete with the suburbs.

[Richard]

Housing advocates have continued to raise concerns about Detroiters losing their homes to tax foreclosure. From 2005 to 2015, nearly half of all residential properties in the city experienced mortgage or tax foreclosure. A Detroit News investigation found Detroiters were overtaxed by an estimated $600 million from 2010 to 2016. The city completed a citywide property reappraisal in 2017. That effort was ordered by the state in the wake of overassessment problems.

https://www.bridgedetroit.com/detroi...t-whos-buying/

"The Michigan constitution says no matter how much your property values goes up a year, your taxes go up with inflation and even if inflation goes up, your taxes can't go up more than 5%," Duggan said.

So if inflation goes up for multiple years in a row at 5% per year.

I remember in the 70s 80s 90s 2000s inflation kicked in and hung around for 5 years or more.

[Lapooty]

OK... I was wondering why the Carriage Entry part of the MCS did not have much done to it. Its' use is now planned as the MCS Hotel entry and lobby.

Here are 2 images of that [to be enclosed] space, both showing it as being a Carriage House, instead of the now planned Hotel. One image shows it from the back, without the yet to be designed Hotel Entry off the back, on the left. The other image shows how it would look like from the interior as a Carriage House, instead of the now planned Hotel Lobby.

What an absolute let down if the carriage house just ends up being the MCS hotel lobby. It is such a unique space and that redering in your post, Gistok, makes it look so stunning as a potential restaurant/bar.

[JonWylie]

What an absolute let down if the carriage house just ends up being the MCS hotel lobby. It is such a unique space and that redering in your post, Gistok, makes it look so stunning as a potential restaurant/bar.

On the bright side, if it is the hotel lobby, it will be free to enter at all times so people can see the restoration. A lot of lobby's downtown are now open for you to come sit and work, often they have coffee shops. I've done it multiple times at the Book, Whitney, Siren, and Shinola. So, it might end up being a cool space.

[southen]

On the bright side, if it is the hotel lobby, it will be free to enter at all times so people can see the restoration. A lot of lobby's downtown are now open for you to come sit and work, often they have coffee shops. I've done it multiple times at the Book, Whitney, Siren, and Shinola. So, it might end up being a cool space.

This. I would expect that there is some lobby bar or coffee shop for the public. I feel like the carriage house is far too large for just a lobby.

[Gistok]

This. I would expect that there is some lobby bar or coffee shop for the public. I feel like the carriage house is far too large for just a lobby.

I agree... and also, that space is too far from the main MCS entrance for it to be a standalone restaurant. So having a special entrance will give that space much more foot traffic. I wonder if hotel guests will have around the clock access to the main waiting hall... or if some of that space can be used as hotel event space? Or maybe the former MCS midway glass roofed area can be used for special event space in the evening for the hotel.

Having the MCS for more than just offices will provide for more foot traffic in the evening, especially if restaurants are planned in the complex.

[Margaret's boy]

I would love to see better links between Detroit and Windsor. New York City has subway lines incorporated into all the major bridges except for the Brooklyn bridge. What about an LRT line for the Gordie Howe? Is it feasible?

[southen]

I would love to see better links between Detroit and Windsor. New York City has subway lines incorporated into all the major bridges except for the Brooklyn bridge. What about an LRT line for the Gordie Howe? Is it feasible?

That would have likely required a lot more engineering before being built. You also have the issue that the Gordie Howe isn't really near anything on either side that people would want to be visiting, so is this rail going all to way to each downtown? Quite costly just to get over the border without a car especially considering there is a bus that goes between both cities through the tunnel already.

I say bring back the gondola! I would settle for water taxis though.

[gratiotfaced]

I don't see why the lobby would take up the whole carriage house -- it's a pretty large space. I could definitely see at least a coffee shop fitting in there for the general public to enjoy.