Hudson's Site Building Thread

[bust]

Southen, dtwoncitylover, emusteve, jason, detroitsoldier: I agree. Detroit needs and can absorb the additional class A office and retail space. And new purpose built high end residences would provide something to Detroit's resurgence it still lacks. They make sense here. My concern is that 250 of them all coming online at the same time, and on the same block, is a bad plan for Detroit. A much better plan would be for more organic growth that doesn't shock the market. 75 high end apartments here, then another 50, another 25, 50 more, 20, then 30 — so long as the market can bear them. And this is crucial: not all in the same place. 250 all at once will flood the market. 250 all in the same place will stunt resurgence in other parts downtown. Any other developers considering investing in high end residential will shelve those plans. It might make sense to Gilbert to corner the market, but there remains way too much empty or underutilized space downtown for stacking so many high end apartments on top of each other to make any sense for Detroit. It would be much better for Detroit to literally spread the wealth, more gradually. There is so much wonderful historic architecture left to repurpose. So many parking lots to fill. Let's not kill the incentive to invest in them. Besides, Gilbert has done a lot of great for Detroit but let's not forget it would of course be much healthier if Detroit's real estate market were not so concentrated under one person's control. Competition is essential for healthy capitalism.

That said I think what Detroit needs more than anything is to nurture a healthy middle class. And a successful creative class. The wealthy tend to be transients. And much less community-oriented. I'm much more excited about Gilbert's plans for City Modern in Brush Park because I think what Detroit needs is to invest in thriving communities for regular people.