The Coe Developement [Phase 2]

[kuuma]

https://www.facebook.com/groups/4127...0330206754083/

"Developers want to DEMOLISH TWO HISTORIC West Village homes, so they can take up an ENTIRE block for a 58-UNIT building"

The historic homes in question:

Oh honey... this ain't it. Find a better use of your time.

[swingline]

https://www.facebook.com/groups/4127...0330206754083/

This is California-style NIMBYism [along with a heaping ladle of parochialism) which Detroit of all places must avoid if it wants to rejoin the ranks of American cities with thriving economies. One gets the sense that the change.org petition supporters think that West Village should be preserved in amber as a neighborhood of cute Queen Anne bungalows and cottages and that is what local historic designation demands. Nothing could be further from the truth [or the law). The HDC has not “sidestepped” any of its rules. The West Village elements of design and the historic district ordinance regarding permit approval for any construction have all been followed. Contributing buildings to the historic district include at least half a dozen apartment buildings with massing/scale equal or greater than the phase 2 Coe project. These existing buildings also “tower” over the single family homes and townhouses. Many of these large buildings are also located on Van Dyke within a block or two of the project. As for the parking complaints, the project includes 47 off-street spaces. Seriously, will a 54 unit project with 47 off-street spaces really wreak parking havoc on the neighborhood? Burdensome traffic? Come on. It's a 4 story apartment building. Every objection to new multi-family claims that traffic will become gridlocked. Prove it with a professional study.

Detroit desperately needs the people, activity, money, spending and taxes that modest market-rate infill projects like this one will bring. Nobody is being displaced. We have too much empty space. The cities that Detroit competes with like Minneapolis, Charlotte, Denver, Nashville and Columbus are approving dozens of similar projects every year. We are being left behind. West Village’s quality of life can easily handle this project. It will improve things.

[DetroiterOnTheWestCoast]

As a former West Villager, I have mixed feelings about this development.

It does seem a bit massive and to loom over the area. But that might be partially because it’s replacing mostly vacant land, so of course it seems a bit massive. The Parkstone is much larger and we’re all used to it’s scale. It must have seemed very intrusive when it was built.

[Satiricalivory]

It's baffling that NIMBYs here act exactly the same as NIMBYs everywhere else. It's like they're a cancer hive-mind.

[John]

Here is the revised project. Toned down a bit from the original proposal. Still on track after tonight's HDC meeting.

[DetroiterOnTheWestCoast]

I think this revision is much better than the original proposal.

The variation in the façade, both on the Van Dyke potion as well as on Coe, creates a more pleasing and less monolithic structure. I think it’s fine to bring the corner portion out to the sidewalk, but setting the northern portion back not only adds interest but it’s a nice accommodation of the neighboring homes.

[DeLemur]

I totally agree. This revision looks much better and forms to the neighborhood in a more conducive way.

[[of course I would argue for me nods to the historical architecture of the neighborhood. Not trying to replicate history but to give hints to the historical buildings in the modernity. Like a gable here and there.)

I think this revision is much better than the original proposal.

The variation in the façade, both on the Van Dyke potion as well as on Coe, creates a more pleasing and less monolithic structure. I think it’s fine to bring the corner portion out to the sidewalk, but setting the northern portion back not only adds interest but it’s a nice accommodation of the neighboring homes.

[13606Cedargrove]

Not trolling here, but: Wow! That is a truly ugly building. Dark and gloomy.

[Seven&wyo]

Not trolling here, but: Wow! That is a truly ugly building. Dark and gloomy.

I agree, it’s hideous, but on point with most buildings going up today

[Gistok]

^ Agree... cold colors and random window placement... sigh... architects sure do like to copy each other... 10 years ago it was carport roofs...

[Satiricalivory]

Looks fantastic! Love the black brick veneer. Can't wait to see it built.

[K-slice]

I agree, it’s hideous, but on point with most buildings going up today

In the 1910's people complained about too much ornamentation and over the top cornices

In the 20s people bemoaned everything being Art Deco.

In the 30s, Art Moderne was just more Art Deco!

In the 50s, oh gosh mid-century modern and all these Googie buildings, how dreadful!

...And on and on.

[Seven&wyo]

In the 1910's people complained about too much ornamentation and over the top cornices

In the 20s people bemoaned everything being Art Deco.

In the 30s, Art Moderne was just more Art Deco!

In the 50s, oh gosh mid-century modern and all these Googie buildings, how dreadful!

...And on and on.

You’re right, yay mediocrity

[Jimaz]

In the 1910's people complained about too much ornamentation and over the top cornices...

Wow. You must be really old.

[John]

Fox 2 News

Historic West Village home to be torn down for new Detroit apartment plan

[casscorridor]

Fox 2 News

Historic West Village home to be torn down for new Detroit apartment plan

I really do not have any sympathy for these complainers moaning about new development. Try asking them what they'd like to be built in lieu of the proposed development and they will give you a blank stare. As such, they should be ignored.

Tearing down a tiny derelict house [[regardless of its age) for dozens of new homes is a net positive for the city, a city which has an interest in redevelopment and increasing its tax base.

The aesthetic opinions of a few local residents should not derail the interests of the city's residents as a whole, who will benefit from new tax generation and safer, denser neighbourhoods with more jobs and amenities.

[stasu1213]

I will have a problem with developers wanting to raze more and more historical homes especially under this city council led by Sheffield and others. Follow the money

[K-slice]

Nimbys dragged Nicole Curtis into this one now. The developer just needs to get to work on the demo and put this thing to rest.

https://www.deadlinedetroit.com/arti..._nicole_curtis

[swingline]

Fox 2 News

Historic West Village home to be torn down for new Detroit apartment plan

The Detroit HDC did the right thing approving the demolition. The benefits of Phase 2 of the Coe project far outweigh any perceived negatives. West Village was designated as a local historic district 40 years ago because of its relatively unique [for Detroit] status as a mostly intact turn of the 20th Century mixed use neighborhood. The homes to be demolished contributed to that status but were and are not essential to maintaining the integrity of the basis for the WV historic designation. The historic district ordinance includes a defined process with strict criteria to be met before a contributing building can be torn down. The Coe developer has presented information to the HDC and complied with that process. The HDC considered the information, applied the criteria and approved the demolition. Yes, it is sad when buildings that contribute to a place are torn down. And yes, it's a cliche to say that not everything old [and perhaps historic] can be saved. But a regulatory oversight process that weighed all the pros and cons of demolition was applied to these homes and down they will go. Nothing unfair here. In this instance, change was determined to be better for Detroit than the status quo [which has been years-long blight of two modest old homes]. Detroit gets new market rate housing and West Village will suffer no material negative consequences. This is good progress. Too often NIMBY type things in Detroit make this unnecessarily hard to achieve.

[swingline]

Nimbys dragged Nicole Curtis into this one now. The developer just needs to get to work on the demo and put this thing to rest.

https://www.deadlinedetroit.com/arti..._nicole_curtis

Nicole Curtis has completed some truly remarkable renovations of old homes. Plenty of developers as well as the too-common thoughtless house flippers out there could learn a lot from her about how to do it right. It's great that she is willing to fight to save old homes. She's wrong on this one though. Perhaps the West Village NIMBYs should get her to devote her time and talent to one of the dozens of single family homes on other blocks in WV that are blighted, including some that are far more architecturally significant than the two that will be demolished.

[kuuma]

Curtis' statement in the article reads just like an unhinged Trump tweet diatribe – further rousing the NIMBYs, insinuating without evidence that historic district erasure is happening systemically, pretending to be an involved party [["our city"), saying it would be better to build nothing for some reason... I extra hope this gets built now.

[Danny]

Well, those 100-year-old county Victorian homes will be gone to gentrification.

[swingline]

Curtis' statement in the article reads just like an unhinged Trump tweet diatribe – further rousing the NIMBYs, insinuating without evidence that historic district erasure is happening systemically, pretending to be an involved party [["our city"), saying it would be better to build nothing for some reason... I extra hope this gets built now.

Haven't been able to read the whole paywall protected Crain's article, but from what was excerpted at Deadline Detroit it is not a good look for Ms. Curtis. She is thoroughly misinformed if she thinks that there is some sort of Detroit epidemic of demolitions of structures in locally designated historic districts. In the past 30 years, of the thousands of single family homes regulated by the Detroit HDC, probably less than a dozen have been demolished. Respect her passion, but her knee jerk reaction on this one is kind of disappointing.