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Felt like putting up something positive in response to the thread about devlopments that never happened. How about the ones that looked like longshots but eventually came to fruition?
1. The Book Cadillac
2. The Fort Shelby
3. The Dequindre Cut
4. The Riverwalk
5. GM's redo of the Ren Cen.
6. The renovation of the Fox Theater.
7. Ford Field/Comerica Park
8. Seven Mile/Meyers Super KMart/Home Depot
9. Compuware/Campus Martius
Although not a brick-and-mortar development, I think council-by-district is a big change that Detroit needs. No more soft-seats for council members just happy to be there. They will now have to directly answer to their constituents or find a new job. Hopefully, the districts will be drawn up sooner than later.
I love the DC. We use it at least once a week when we go to Eastern Market. It'll be really nice if/when they expand it on the other side of Gratiot.Quote:
Originally Posted by Motor City Sam
Campus Martius is my favorite Detroit development in recent memory. The Riverwalk is my second favorite. I don't consider those to be longshots though.
The Book Cadillac is my favorite longshot by far. It set the precedent for historic preservation and renovation in Detroit.
Agree with the list above
On a smaller scale...1260 Library Street [[building next to Vicente's)
Opera House. When I first toured this building, the orchestra pit was flooded and standing near the stage you could see the sky. Nearly all of the plaster had failed. It's amazing what was done to restore the building and add the stage house by removing the Roberts Fur Building.
While not my favorite, I think the Cobo refurbishment will be the single most important development in a long time. Other than sports events, Cobo sees more visitors than any other downtown location. The new entrance should encourage a lot more people to walk the riverfront as well.
The Book-Cadillac and Broderick projects were both brought back from the dead. The B-C went from eyesore to gem. The Broderick will likely have an even bigger impact with it's extremely prime location and visibility from Comerica Park.
Unpretentious Utica is progressing on two separate but complementary parks projects started last year.
http://home.comcast.net/~jimmoore2/p...s/Overview.JPG
Overview for orientation
The area circled in green is the location of the new Memorial Park Riverwalk and the area circled in blue is the location of the upgrade to Heritage Park. The red line is the existing Hike and Bike Trail to be continued northward at a later date.
Utica's plan is to provide a safe alternative to crossing the busy Van Dyke/Hall Road intersection while making downtown Utica merchants accessible to Hike and Bike Trail traffic.
http://home.comcast.net/~jimmoore2/p...s/000_0002.JPG
Riverwalk three-tiered serpentine walls from the staircase looking south toward Hall Road.
http://home.comcast.net/~jimmoore2/p...s/000_0003.JPG
Small Riverwalk waterfall overwhelmed when the Clinton River runs high.
Muskrat and Canada Geese have been spotted here.
http://home.comcast.net/~jimmoore2/p...s/100_0005.JPG
New Heritage Park fishing platform
http://home.comcast.net/~jimmoore2/p...s/100_0006.JPG
2011.04.25 Heritage Park floating canoe launch under construction
http://home.comcast.net/~jimmoore2/p...s/000_0006.JPG
2011.05.04 Completed
http://home.comcast.net/~jimmoore2/p...002%281%29.JPG
2011.04.26 Heritage Park pedestrian bridge under construction
The sides are six feet tall.
http://home.comcast.net/~jimmoore2/p...003%281%29.JPG
2011.05.04 Near completion
http://home.comcast.net/~jimmoore2/p...s/000_0005.JPG
2011.05.04 Oops.
That corner is resting on boards. The cranes have left the immediate area so maybe they can fix the fit with jacks alone.
There's some more old information in Utica's Fall Newsletter [[PDF).
I hope to get better pictures when it's finished.
Utica recently installed a new clock at the Memorial Park Riverwalk.
They've also added three new park benches along the river and added more brickwork. Much landscaping remains to be done.
Utica's park project was made official on July 29th.
Utica dedicates trail, celebrates re-opening of Heritage Park
The listed happenings in the thread header are good things, but I have maintained for years that Detroit mostly needs a small business class of people to turn the city around. If that takes an influx of illegals, gays, and other enterprising souls, so be it.
I've been to many cities overseas in East Asia and Europe and I've never come across anything like my birthplace of Detroit that so lacks a small business class.
The Opera House is really a model project. It's a very unusual and attractive building, it's a good size that's suitable for lots of different presenters to use it without wagering the future of their organizations, and there's good parking in the area that doesn't overwhelm the urban landscape.
My favorite new development is the Riverwalk. I am so pleased to see that it actually *is* expanding bit by bit... most Detroit developments of my lifetime before the past 10 years promised the moon and then never materialized.
It's well-maintained, beautiful and unique. It is an automatic showpiece for visitors -- "this is why we were named Detroit." I am so privileged to live next door to it, and hope that in 15-20 years, we'll have a Riverwalk from the Ambassador Bridge to Belle Isle and beyond, and [[hopefully) a restored island park. It would be so awesome to be able to walk, bike, run, skate, or take a pedi cab from SW Detroit, loop around Belle Isle, all the way to the GP border.
Totally, totally agree. The new wave of small business owners, along with some of the better ones who hung in there through the 1970s-2000s, are like pure gold. I hope that one of their number or someone who supports them lands on Council in 2013.Quote:
Originally Posted by Al Publican
The Detroit Opera House and Fox Theatre were "faithful restorations".... the Book Cadillac and Fort Shelby were "renovations" with an eye towards "restoring" some of the grand spaces.... but not as they were.
They ripped out the ornate golden scrollwork Book Cadillac lobby ceiling [[hidden for decades above a drop ceiling with its' golden colored plasterwork still intact)... and replaced it with a plain white flat ceiling. In the Fort Shelby, much of the ornate plasterwork was replaced by stenciling [[flat surfaces painted to resemble 3 dimensional ones).
Oh, good thread. my favorites:
- The Book Cadillac [[i have stayed there)
- The Broderick Tower
- The Fox Theater
- The Gem Theater
- The Opera House
- the Fort Shelby
- The Riverwalk
- Motor City Casino [[the old Wonder Bread complex)
- The Grand Circus Park improvements
- The Compuware bldg.