2013 Year in review

Last year was a busy year, much busier than most of us realize. I have jotted down a few things that have happened that impact the current and future state of the City. This is by no means everything. There is probably lots of things that I left off.

Yes it was a bad year due to the bankruptcy but lets take a look at what else happened.

The auto industry hit 16 million units. Granted this does not have the economic spin offs that it once would have had for the region, but it still helped give thousands of good paying jobs so they could buy goods, services, and employ others.
Gilbert continued to buy more stuff. He closed on 1001 Woodward and the Greektown casino as well as several other properties.
Broderick tower opens.
Work on David Whitney Building begins.
The Pontchartrain Hotel opens again as a Crown Plaza.
Meijer as well as several other retailers open near the State Fair Ground. Whole Foods opens near the Medical Center.
While downtown did not get the type of retailers many of those who post here are dreaming of, positive steps happened including the opening of several eating establishments [[Buffalo Wild Wings, Bagger Dave's, second Potbelly's) signalling that there is some positive movement in market demand. In addition, Woodward pop-up stores continued to expand with a lot more offerings during December of 2013 than there were in December 2012.
NITC Bridge to Canada was approved by the feds.
Both the extension of the Dequindre Cut as well as the M-1 trolley were put under contract. This shows that we are diversifying our transportation mode choices.
More miles of bike lanes have appeared on neighborhood streets.
Detroit's neighborhoods had bottomed out in terms of losing home value. Many show increases again even signaling a stabilizing of the demand outside of the core.
The State greenlights a new arena district in Midtown.
There was a bidding war for long abandoned or hardly used buildings. These include the Free Press, the Packard, and the Stott.
Serman's building gets bought by Quicken. The long time retailer shuts its doors due to decline in men's fancy dress, and getting a big payday.
Thousands of more workers downtown. This is making the buses and freeways more congested.
RTA holds first meeting.
Cobo Hall expansion/Renovation is nearly complete.

You may notice that two heavily talked about projects were not included: I-75 and I-94. This is because both have been in Long Range Transportation Plans for 20 years and were approved by the Feds several years ago. The real story here however is the continuing of the shrinking of money available for transportation. This has made it increasingly more difficult to fund both road and transit improvements that the region needs due to both internal and external forces.