Metro Detroit-Windsor 2024 Predictions

[mtburb]

You know how these kinds of threads roll.

Previous prediction threads:
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023

My top ten:

1. Monroe Blocks finally begin construction.
2. Midtown developments start slowing down, with some projects even cancelled.
3. Emagine and Big Sean give up on their proposed Midtown theater.
4. A third tower is announced for the Joe Louis Arena site.
5. Lions make a deep playoff run, maybe even win the Super Bowl.
6. Wings somehow make their way back to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
7. Pistons continue their historically abysmal performance into next season.
8. A movement for countywide transit in Wayne County gets underway.
9. Rendered useless, the People Mover's turnstiles and token machines are taken out.
10. Another airline announces new service to Metro Airport.

Add your predictions!

[Zacha341]

Transpo to DTW [Metro] would be great!

Uber and Lyft drivers won't be feeling that however.

That's the option we often use if we want to keep our cars at home.

[401don]

Correction to no. 9:
Rendered useless, the People Mover is taken out.

[ShadowSoarer]

Midtown Developments slowing down? Most of the following Midtown Developments have stalled:

-CODA Detroit
-112 Edmund
-Midtown West Phase 2
-Brush + Watson Center Tower [[Looks like it might be canceled)
-3rd & Charlotte [[Looks like it might be canceled, excavator is removed and grass is replanted)
-Detroit Shipping Container's Complex 444
-Brewster Douglas Development
-City Modern isn't hasn't finished even after like 7 years of construction
-The Mid
-City Club + Target
-Big Sean Movie Theater
-Petit Bateau
-Midtown Cultural Campus by DIA
-Amtrak Station [[This is more New Center)
-Henry Street Apartment Building Renovations
-Elementa Development in Brush Park
-Union Street Renovation [[Was suppose to become a grocery store?)
-Wayne State + Kamanos Campus announcement details

In terms of actual progress in 2024 predictions:
-Hotel Riverfront will break ground
-HFHS expansion will break ground
-MSU development will break ground
-Hastings Place will break ground
-One more District Detroit projects on Woodward will break ground
-City Club/Target Midtown will break ground, bold prediction only because Target Midtown St. Louis will finish in 2024, if not then there is some serious issues with development in Detroit [[like there hasn't already been)
-AC Hotel will not open in time for NFL Draft like they claimed
-Hudson Block will finish
-Michigan Central will finish
-Ralph Centennial Park will finish
-Peach Cobbler Factory will finally open?
-Rhianna’s store will finally open?
-Apple store will open?

[gratiotfaced]

I'm so confused by the stalling of development in Midtown. Where did all the momentum go.. Corktown?

Amtrak/MDOT station seems to be moving on the slowest of timelines, but it's still in the works.



What insights do you have for Hastings Place breaking ground? It seems like it's been trapped in development hell for years now. I hope we see it though.

My predictions:

1) Some major, positive transit news happens this year. The driver pay gap is addressed and the shortage eases. Democrats do some transit reforms and investments at the state level, maybe funding the Ann Arbor commuter rail. QLine is absorbed by the RTA and pushes for expansion funding from Feds. DDOT implements some pilot BRT lines, though these aren't true gold-standard BRT. Any or all of the above happen.

2) The District breaks ground on the UMCI residential tower and the LCA hotel this spring, on schedule. These are lots owned by Olympia, so no ownership deal shenanigans. Both also have strong business cases. Henry Street finally gets underway.

3) Everything already in the works moves smoothly. Michigan Central opens late spring or summer. Water Square Hotel breaks ground. HFHS/MSU breaks ground. Monroe Blocks break ground. Wilson Park has been delayed until 2025 already though, according to the Riverfront Conservancy.

4) Gilbert announces a City Modern 2.0 in the Rivertown area.

5) Some new residential midrise is approved downtown by a non-Bedrock or Olympia entity a la The Exchange.

6) One of the stalled Midtown developments finally starts once interest rates lower. Either City Club/Target, Emagine/Big Sean, maybe CODA? Others possible.

7) More new construction infill in Corktown, SW, Woodbridge, North End announced.

8) CPA Building finally sells to an actual developer.

9) NFL Draft is a huge success for the city's image.

10) LEGO, Levi, Apple, or some other big name brand finally opens a new store on Woodward.

[ShadowSoarer]

What insights do you have for Hastings Place breaking ground? It seems like it's been trapped in development hell for years now. I hope we see it though.

Not really a great source but from the State of the City Address in 2022 slide 197 says construction to start Fall 2023, so fingers crossed that it starts in 2024.

[Margaret's boy]

My predictions:
-As the Gordie Howe International bridge nears completion, development near the bridge entrances will accelerate on both sides of the border. I wouldn't be surprised to see new industry come to this region to take advantage of the improved cross-border links.
-Downtown Windsor will continue to languish compared to Downtown Detroit as new development bypasses the historic core and intensifies near the new battery plant and mega-hospital.
-Downtown Detroit will land a major new employer to take advantage of the city's burgeoning tech sector.
-Work will finally begin to extend Lauzon Parkway to the 401, giving commuters on Windsor's east side easier access to the highway.
-the upcoming NFL draft will spur the city of Windsor to beautify and clean-up the downtown core.
-After four years of vacancy, Windsor's Westcourt Place will reopen and inject much-needed life into the city's core. Maybe the owners will finally get rid of the ugly 70's era gold mirror glass that makes the place look like its' seen better days.

[Henry Whalley]

Nostradamus predicted that a pastor would fry a human head in a McDonalds in Low Point and that Martha Stewart would call it McNoggins.

Nostra 'D' thought the skull would be breaded and fried in Detroit, but since Charlie LeDuff was cleaning all the deep fryers, the event was relocated to High Point, NC.